Wootz Khanjar, India, Mughal

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Unusual Khanjar Dagger with Wootz Damascus Steel Blade & Hilt with Gold Overlay

Northern India

19th century

length: 39cm

This beautiful khanjar has a superbly watered blade and handle. The double-edged blade has a prominent fuller to both sides. The handle and pommel are overlaid along the edges with gold.

The scabbard of green velvet with gold braid trimmings has a gold koftgari work metal chape.

This

khanjar has a good, balanced weight in the hand.

It dates to the nineteenth century and might have been commissioned to be worn at one of the great durbars of the British Raj held in India in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Daggers and swords in which the hilt as well as the blade are of wootz damascus watered steel are relatively rare. A tulwar attributed to the eighteenth century and with similar gold overlay work around the edges of the hilt was offered as Lot 189 in Christie’s London, ‘Arts of the Islamic and Indian Worlds’, April 7, 2011.

Provenance

US art market

Inventory no.: 1283

SOLD