.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
The basic hourglass shape, in which a narrow grip is flared towards the pommel and guard, is among the most widespread basic hilt form, with attestations from the second millennium BC across Afro-Eurasia (Salam Kaoukji, Precious Indian Weapons and other Princely Accoutrements, London/New York, 2017, p.113). This dagger hilt finds its most immediate precursors in the jade hourglass hilts of the first half of the 16th century, when daggers of this form begin to proliferate in manuscript painting, most notably in the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, completed in the 1530s. A dagger in the Wallace Collection, London, is fitted with a hilt that represents an early surviving example of this fashion, possibly dating from as early as the late 15th century (OA1414; Thom Richardson and Paula Turner (eds.), The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Arms & Armour from Asia, Africa and the Ottoman World, London, 2026, pp.228-9; Arthur Bijl, “A 15th-century dagger in its late Timurid context,” in K.D. Smith and Ruth R. Brown (eds) At the Sign of the Dragon: Papers to Celebrate the 700th Anniversary of the Armourers and Brasiers Company of London, Leeds: Basiliscoe Press, 2024, p.110).
Iterations of this fashion were seen from the Balkans to India with only minor variations and, judging by their proliferation in manuscript paintings, periodically returned to fashion over subsequent centuries. The revival of this fashion during the late 17th and early 18th centuries can be seen on another dagger in the Wallace Collection, consisting of a blade from the second half of the 16th century fitted with a hilt and scabbard attributable to the late 17th or early 18th centuries (OA1430; Thom Richardson and Paula Turner (eds.), The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Arms & Armour from Asia, Africa and the Ottoman World, London, 2026, p.360). The evidently precious openwork blade, richly-inlaid with fine islīmī tendrils and two couplets by the Ottoman poet Misali (Kınalızade Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara, ed. Ibrahim Kutluk, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2014, p. 246) is eminently suitable for a hilt style which by this period had acquired a classic status. On the present dagger, the blade is instead left undecorated in order to show off the very fine watered pattern. The fine rumi inlay on the hilt suits such understated luxury particularly well.
Iterations of this fashion were seen from the Balkans to India with only minor variations and, judging by their proliferation in manuscript paintings, periodically returned to fashion over subsequent centuries. The revival of this fashion during the late 17th and early 18th centuries can be seen on another dagger in the Wallace Collection, consisting of a blade from the second half of the 16th century fitted with a hilt and scabbard attributable to the late 17th or early 18th centuries (OA1430; Thom Richardson and Paula Turner (eds.), The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Arms & Armour from Asia, Africa and the Ottoman World, London, 2026, p.360). The evidently precious openwork blade, richly-inlaid with fine islīmī tendrils and two couplets by the Ottoman poet Misali (Kınalızade Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara, ed. Ibrahim Kutluk, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2014, p. 246) is eminently suitable for a hilt style which by this period had acquired a classic status. On the present dagger, the blade is instead left undecorated in order to show off the very fine watered pattern. The fine rumi inlay on the hilt suits such understated luxury particularly well.