The ‘World-Capturer’ Sword of Shah Jahan, Blade: North India, 17th Century

Shah Jahan I (r.1628-58)

Aurangzeb (r.1658-1707)

Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning, Governor-General and 1st Viceroy of India (1812-62)

Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde (1833-1916)

George Charles Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (1882-1947)

George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (1923-2011)

Christie’s London, 30 April 1986, lot 39

Philippe Missillier Collection no.118C

An account by the Venetian traveller Niccolao Manucci (d.1717) suggests that ‘World-Capturer’ was presented to or inherited by Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb. He recorded the names of twenty-seven personal swords in the possession of Aurangzeb, among them ‘World-Capturer’ (‘alam-i sitan which can also be translated as ‘World-Conqueror’), then still with its original gem-set gold hilt (William Irvine, Storia do Mogor or Mogul India 1653-1708 by Niccolao Manucci, London: John Murray, 1907, vol.2, p.358). Interestingly, Manucci notes both that many of the personal swords had come down to Aurangzeb from “the ancient kings”, and that he refused to present these swords to others as part of an investiture, preferring newly acquired swords for such ceremonies (Irvine 1907, p.359).

The subsequent history of ‘World-Capturer’ is less clear. The sword was in the collection of Henry George Charles Lascelles (1882-1947), 6th Earl of Harewood and son-in-law of George V, who in 1916 received a substantial collection of works of art from Hubert George de Burgh-Canning (1832-1916), 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde, through the Clanricarde bequest. If the sword was part of the bequest, the possibility arises that it had been left to De Burgh-Canning by his uncle Charles John Canning (1812-62), last Governor-General and first Viceroy of India (1856-62), who is likely to have acquired it in India (Spink 2019, pp.27-29). 

H. Ricketts and P. Missillier, Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris: Acte-Expo, 1988, p. 104, no.169

David A. Sulzberger, Islamic Military Heritage: Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991, pp.46-47, no.256

Michael C. Spink, The ‘World-Capturer’ Sword and Other Recorded Weapons of Emperor Shah Jahan, LiCA Art Publications, 2019

inscriptions

hast in shamshir-i khass-i thani sahib-i qiran

‘This is the personal sword of the Second Lord of the Conjunction’

shah ghazi padishah bahr wa barr shah jahan

‘the warrior king, the emperor of sea and land, Shah Jahan’

ismuhu ‘alam-i sitan

‘its name is ‘World-Capturer.’

l 16 s n 52 ‘Lam 16 Sad Nun 52’