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Lot Essay
This elegant dagger hilt, along with a similarly decorated sword (Lot 81) and a flywhisk (Lot 82) in this sale, belongs to a very small group of objects which were probably produced in the same workshop. The sophisticated craftsmanship suggests an attribution to an imperial atelier. This rare combination of two different hardstones, rock crystal set into jade, with each rock crystal panel foiled and carved on the inside creates a dazzling pearl-like effect (Beijing 2018, p.181). The decoration is reminiscent of the Sheesh Mahal or Aina Mahal, ‘Hall of Mirrors’, a feature in several 17th and 18th century Mughal and Rajput buildings in north and western India. These were pleasure pavilions intricately decorated with thousands of small mirrors, glass tiles and pietra dura mosaics.
The hilt is set with an impressive blade decorated with gold koftgari overlay and pierced with three channels containing several steel balls. Robert Hales notes that blades with free running steel balls or with captive pearls are known from the 16th century onwards. They are often referred to as ‘the tears of Allah’ or ‘the tears of the afflicted’ (Hales 2013, p.27). The proportions of the carving and the use of shallow relief of this form finds comparison with Safavid Iranian blades.
There is a comparable 18th century dagger hilt in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (IS.02562) with very similar decoration which is probably from the same centre of production. Sophie Makariou compares the decoration with a jade mirror-back or screen in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris and with a huqqa base in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (Paris 2017, p.130).
The hilt is set with an impressive blade decorated with gold koftgari overlay and pierced with three channels containing several steel balls. Robert Hales notes that blades with free running steel balls or with captive pearls are known from the 16th century onwards. They are often referred to as ‘the tears of Allah’ or ‘the tears of the afflicted’ (Hales 2013, p.27). The proportions of the carving and the use of shallow relief of this form finds comparison with Safavid Iranian blades.
There is a comparable 18th century dagger hilt in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (IS.02562) with very similar decoration which is probably from the same centre of production. Sophie Makariou compares the decoration with a jade mirror-back or screen in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris and with a huqqa base in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (Paris 2017, p.130).