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Lot Essay
The gem-set and enamelled sword hilt and fittings are decorated in a heavily embellished style which was favoured in India in the 19th century. The pommel shaped as a tiger’s head and quillons with tiger-head terminals find comparison with the form of a parcel-gilt, gem-set and cobalt-blue enamelled 19th century sabre hilt in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (D. Alexander, The Arts of War, The Nasser D. Khalili collection of Islamic Art, Vol. XXI, London, 1992, cat.no.134, 200).
The earliest reference to a zoomorphic hilt in Mughal India appears in a painting of Jamal Khan Qarawul by the artist Murad, from the Kevorkian Album dated to circa 1610-15 (Stuart Cary Welch et al, The Emperors’ Album. Images of Mughal India, New York, 1987, no.26, pp.132-33). Welch suggests that it was only after the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan that the trend for zoomorphic hilts grew (Stuart Cary Welch, India. Art and Culture 1300-1900, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, p.258). A large number of Mughal and Rajput sword and dagger hilts sculpted with animal heads are known. This reflects a preoccupation with the hunt and sometimes an identification with certain powerful beasts, especially lions and tigers. The Safavid ruler, Shah ‘Abbas I, is depicted carrying a curved sword with a lion-head pommel and straight quillons on the hilt in an illustration from the St Petersburg Muraqqa, dating from circa 1618 (M.C. Beach, The Imperial Image – Paintings from the Mughal Court, Washington, 1981, pp.170-171, pl. 78). In another example, the Emperor Jahangir is portrayed in a folio from the Minto Album with a knife tucked into his cummerbund bearing a tiger-head pommel (L.Y. Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Collection, Volume I, 1995, cat.no.3.15, p.387). Bashir Mohamed writes that the tradition of using the heads of rams, deer, lions or horses on swords and daggers arose from the Mughals' interest in the art and customs of their Central Asian nomadic ancestors (B. Mohamed, The Arts of the Muslim Knight. The Furusiyya Art Foundation Collection, Milan, 2007, p.142). The use of the symbol of the tiger was also ubiquitous in southern India in the late 18th century, for Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, had adopted the animal as his personal symbol and used it on all banners and weapons in his armoury.
The earliest reference to a zoomorphic hilt in Mughal India appears in a painting of Jamal Khan Qarawul by the artist Murad, from the Kevorkian Album dated to circa 1610-15 (Stuart Cary Welch et al, The Emperors’ Album. Images of Mughal India, New York, 1987, no.26, pp.132-33). Welch suggests that it was only after the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan that the trend for zoomorphic hilts grew (Stuart Cary Welch, India. Art and Culture 1300-1900, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, p.258). A large number of Mughal and Rajput sword and dagger hilts sculpted with animal heads are known. This reflects a preoccupation with the hunt and sometimes an identification with certain powerful beasts, especially lions and tigers. The Safavid ruler, Shah ‘Abbas I, is depicted carrying a curved sword with a lion-head pommel and straight quillons on the hilt in an illustration from the St Petersburg Muraqqa, dating from circa 1618 (M.C. Beach, The Imperial Image – Paintings from the Mughal Court, Washington, 1981, pp.170-171, pl. 78). In another example, the Emperor Jahangir is portrayed in a folio from the Minto Album with a knife tucked into his cummerbund bearing a tiger-head pommel (L.Y. Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Collection, Volume I, 1995, cat.no.3.15, p.387). Bashir Mohamed writes that the tradition of using the heads of rams, deer, lions or horses on swords and daggers arose from the Mughals' interest in the art and customs of their Central Asian nomadic ancestors (B. Mohamed, The Arts of the Muslim Knight. The Furusiyya Art Foundation Collection, Milan, 2007, p.142). The use of the symbol of the tiger was also ubiquitous in southern India in the late 18th century, for Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, had adopted the animal as his personal symbol and used it on all banners and weapons in his armoury.