A rare East India Company smallsword, India, possibly Awadh, circa 1760
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
with European colichemarde blade retaining traces of engraved scrollwork at the forte, iron hilt including boatshell-guard rising to a pair of volutes, a pair of straight quillons with globular terminals, knuckle-guard, and bulbous pommel, inlaid throughout with gold flowers and foliage, the guard incorporating two stylised palaces on the outer face, retaining traces of original blued finish, grip bound with plaited silver wire and ribband
102.5cm.
Thomas Del Mar, London, 27 June 2012, lot 54
The present smallsword can be attributed to a small group of luxurious arms thought to have been made in a single workshop (Norman 1980, p.348). These arms are characterised by fine gold inlay in the form of palatial scenes surrounded by stylised floral and vegetal motifs, often against a blued ground, and are tentatively attributed to Awadh on the basis of their decorative repertoire (Markel and Gude 2010, p.200). A particularly fine punch-dagger (katar) in this group, now in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no.OA1484), is signed 'Mit Singh'.
![An extremely rare illustrated manuscript of the Ka'banameh (A history of the Ka'ba) by Abdulrahman Gubari (d.1566), signed by Ahmad [...] al-Khatib, Kaposvár, Hungary, dated Dhu'l-Hijjah 1080 AH/April-May 1670 AD](https://dam.sothebys.com/dam/image/lot/1e33ac28-a449-4673-a23f-f1ca4d5a13b3/primary/extra_small)
