A late Ilkhanid or early Timurid steel helmet, Persia, 14th century

of domical form of ogee section applied with eight slender filaments running vertically, around the base the interstice between each filament chased with a cartouche of cursive calligraphy on foliate scrolls, a series of pierced holes, some retaining portions of pins, around the base, a later finial of pointed form with eight tapering ribs

This item is in good condition. Nicks and losses throughout, particularly to one half, which shows signs of battering and a series of dents. With rusting throughout, specifically to one side of the exterior and extensively throughout the interior. With darkening throughout. Minor rubbing to the engraved band. As viewed.
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inscriptions

Around the base:

Qur'an, surah al-Baqara (II), 255

The plain but sensuous form of this helmet, with its double curve, has its surface broken only by the slender filaments and the tightly restrained Qur'anic inscription espousing the faith of the holy warrior.

The chased inscription with its background of foliate scrolls follows in the Ilkhanid calligraphic tradition exhibited in the headings from early-fourteenth-century Qur'ans (Komaroff and Carboni 2002, p.207, fig.251).

The filaments give the appearance of a helmet made in sections and bring to mind the depictions of Ilkhanid helmets in contemporary miniatures. A painting from the Great Mongol Shahnama, with a scene of Ardashir battling Bahman, the son of Ardavan, in the Detroit Institute of Arts, shows what are presumably Ikhanid versions of helmets with either vertical ridges or made in sections (Komaroff and Carboni 2002, p.157, fig.184, cat. no.53). Elgood has surveyed these miniatures and presented the various types observed in them (Elgood 1979, pp.56-57). The simple domed form of earlier pieces has developed a second curve that occurs on the present example. This is retained and is further embellished in the helmets of the Timurid period, notably the group associated with the Shirvanshahs and the Aqqoyunlu, the earliest of which has the name of the Ottoman ruler Orhan Ghazi, reigned 1326-60 (Mohamed 2007, pp.322-325, nos.309-312).

The form of this helmet may have persisted more in southern and eastern Persia as it appears in either a taller or more bulbous profile in India in the fifteenth century, both in the North and in the Deccan (Mohamed 2007, p.328, no.315, and Paris 1988, p.78, no.121). The present helmet may have found its way to India as the later finial seems more in keeping with those added there. The original may have been something simpler and taller or of a form to hold a small pennant. The apertures around the base of the helmet suggest that, originally, it would have been completed with a chain mail neck and face guard.