Mother-of-pearl Dagger, India

Mughal Mother-of-Pearl & Damascus Dagger

This fine and impressive dagger has a tapering double-edged watered steel blade with a prominent central ridge and, on the forte, double panels of palmette motifs inlaid in gold to both sides. The hilt is of lustrous turban shell panels secured with brass pins, of waisted form embellished mid-way with a collar and further embellished with prominent iron washers of floral form overlaid with gold.

A straight-bladed dagger of this precise form and dimensions was offered as Lot 146, in Sotheby’s London, ‘Arts of the Islamic World’, April 18, 2007. The Sotheby’s dagger had a jade hilt but of the same waisted form and with a similar band around the hilt, and was attributed to the late eighteenth century, Mughal India.

Conventionally termed mother-of-pearl, the work on the handle is in fact from the exterior sections of the turban shell, found in the waters around Gujarat, India. Turban shells first came to Europe via Constantinople or Venice. Portuguese maritime trade later greatly facilitated the introduction of the shells and items made from them to the courts of Europe. Often the shells were given gold and silver-gilt mounts and converted into jugs, vases and ewers.

Overall, this is a fine, impressive dagger in excellent condition.

Sotheby’s London, ‘Arts of the Islamic World’, April 18, 2007.

Syndram, D., & A. Scherner (eds.),

Princely Splendor: The Dresden Court 1580-1620, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2004.

US art market