A Large Ottoman Ebony-Hilted Dagger, Turkey, 18th Century

Philippe Missillier Collection no.104C

The ebony hilt is an Ottoman copy of a Mughal form found in jade, characterised by a bifurcated pommel and quillon and a baluster-shaped grip. A Mughal hilt of this type dated to the seventeenth century is in the al-Sabah collection (inv. no.LNS 275 HS; Salam Kaoukji, Precious Indian Weapons and Other Princely Accoutrements, London: Thames and Hudson, 2017, pp.96-97, cat.28). The form continued in use in India into the eighteenth century, appearing on a dagger formerly in the Clive collection and the Al Thani collection (Amin Jaffer (ed.), Beyond Extravagance, New York: Assouline, 2019, pp.153-4, no.123). Mughal jade hilts found their way to Ottoman workshops where they were often embellished and mounted onto blades: a sword in Dresden has an Indian hilt with Ottoman gem-settings, dated to the seventeenth or eighteenth century (inv. no.Y 143; Holger Schuckelt, Die Türkische Cammer, Dresden: Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden, 2010, pp.332 and 357, no.350).