THE BLADE SIGNED MIR 'ALI ISFAHANI (FL. CA. 1600), SAFAVID IRAN, LATE 16TH OR EARLY 17TH CENTURY; THE HILT: PROBABLY PUNJAB OR KASHMIR, MID-19TH CENTURY

The exceptional ladder pattern on the blade of this shamshir is a testament to the skill of the swordsmith Mir ‘Ali Isfahani. A blade bearing the poetic signature 'the crescent moon-like sword is the work of Mir 'Ali' is dated AH 1008 (1599-1600) and was endowed to the Astan-i Quds Razavi in Mashhad. Another sword with the same signature and a later ownership inscription of one of the Bahawalpur Nawabs was sold at Bonhams London, 21 May 2024, lot 34. A blade signed by Mir ‘Ali Isfahani and fitted with a 17th century Indian hilt had a scabbard made for it by Samuel Brunn, sword cutler to the Prince of Wales during the early 19th century (Runjeet Singh, Sultans, Eunuchs & Sikhs, Maastricht: Runjeet Singh Ltd., 2024).

Close similarities between this hilt and that on a sword in the Royal Collection (RCIN 37828) suggest that they were made in the same workshop. The Royal Collection sword was presented to Edward VII when Prince of Wales on the occasion of his visit to India in the years 1875-6. Its hilt is fitted with a blade extensively decorated with images of the Sikh Gurus remarkably similar to the twelve Sikh figures which appear on a shield in the Wallace Collection, London (OA2188; Thom Richardson and Paula Turner (eds.), The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Arms & Armour from Asia, Africa and the Ottoman World, London, 2026, p.215). This shield can be attributed to mid-19th century Punjab or Kashmir on the basis of the disproportionately prominent inclusion of members of the Dogra dynasty who reigned in Kashmir from 1846 until 1947.