Splendour: The Philippe Missillier Collection of Islamic & Indian Arms and Armour
Splendour: The Philippe Missillier Collection of Islamic & Indian Arms and Armour
Auction Closed
April 29, 12:32 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
the head with seven pierced iron flanges with soldered iron buttons forming the head’s primary structure, the flanges separated by seven smaller flanges of gem-set and enamelled silver attached with soldered iron buttons at the top and bottom, the cap, three bands, and pommel cap gem-set and enamelled en-suite, the upper haft of chased silver with evenly-spaced gems set in the Ottoman manner, the lower haft of plain silver with hole through the centre, with custom leather-covered wooden case lined with green velvet
62cm.
Thomas del Mar, London, 2007, 26 June 2007, lot 225
Philippe Missillier Collection no.58C
In its overall form, including the tapering shape of the flanges and large knop, the mace follows earlier Ottoman models, such as a seventeenth-century example now in the David Collection, Copenhagen (inv. no.88/2003, (Kjeld von Folsach et al., Fighting, Hunting, Impressing: Arms and Armour from the Islamic World 1500-1850, Copenhagen: The David Collection, p.119). While maces can be very effective tools of war, the present mace, with its delicate pierced silver and enamel decoration, was made to be used as part of insignia of office.
Another gem-set mace, now in the Hungarian National Museum (inv. no.54.1956), was presented to Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830-1916) by the goldsmiths’ guild of Pest when he was crowned Apostolic King of Hungary in Buda in 1867 (Tibor S. Kovács, Maces, War-hammers and Topors from Hungarian Collections, Magyar Nemzeti Múseum, 2016, pp.164-173). This and the present mace are the two most elaborate maces of this period recorded, suggesting that the Missillier mace may have been ordered by a senior Hungarian noble for the coronation in 1867.
The gems set on the mace include emeralds, spinels and pearls enhanced with enamels. It is very rare for the original case to survive.
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