A fine watered steel sabre, India, Deccan, 17th century

Philippe Missillier Collection no.121C

David A. Sulzberger, Islamic Military Heritage: Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991, p.46, no.254

The exceptionally fine gold and silver inlay on the hilt finds its closest comparison in a punch-dagger now in the al-Sabah Collection (inv. no.LNS 1008 M) attributed to the seventeenth-century Deccan on the basis of strong similarities between the handling of the vegetal motifs on the punch-dagger and early seventeenth-century Golcondan textiles (Salam Kaoukji, Precious Indian Weapons and Other Princely Accoutrements, London, Thames & Hudson, 2017, p.73).