An Ottoman Sabre With Rare Signed Scabbard, Scabbard Signed Alexis of Constantinople, Istanbul, Dated 1685
Auction Closed
April 29, 12:32 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
the curved watered steel blade with two fullers and false edge, the length of the blade gold overlaid with rubbed words and phrases now largely illegible, the spine overlaid with gold in a vegetal motif including the rubbed inscription ‘the year 1125’ (1713-14), further gold overlay on each side at the forte, including a vegetal motif around the guard, a six-pointed star containing the phrase ‘whatsoever God wills’ (ma sha allah) on one side and a tiger inside a roundel on the other, with silver guard carved and densely inlaid with niello, the grip with two plaques of translucent grey hardstone attached with three nielloed silver rivets, the green velvet-covered wooden scabbard decorated en-suite with niello inscription ‘Alexis tou Kostantinou 1685’ on the spine of the silver locket, with ‘Mehmed’ assay marks on mounts, two suspension rings
87cm.
Philippe Missillier Collection no.27C
The ‘Mehmed’ assay marks likely refer to the Ottoman sultan Mehmed IV (r.1648-87). The silversmith Alexis is not otherwise attested, but a sword with closely comparable mounts is now in the Wallace Collection, London (OA1785), having been acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford from the estate of Alfred de Rougemont at a Paris auction held 14-20 April 1869 for a then staggering 4100 francs. That sword is set with an older, possibly sixteenth-century blade.
On the present blade, the curious discrepancy between the rubbed date overlaid on the blade and the date inlaid on the scabbard mounts can be explained in several ways. A likely scenario is that the blade was overlaid when the sword was assembled using mounts made three decades earlier. Alternatively, the blade is as old as the mounts, but the gold overlay is a later addition to the sword, possibly marking a significant occasion such as the gifting of the sword.
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