A Mughal Steel Crutch Dagger with Ivory Lion-head Handle, India, 18th Century

the ivory-handled gupti of concave form terminating in finely carved lion heads, the body carved in low relief with a quatrefoil leaf design on the upper edge, the shaft decorated with an acanthus leaf spray, the double-edged steel blade further decorated with a damascened floral motif at the forte. 

Gupti is literally translated as 'concealed weapon'.  This dagger was most probably concealed within the handle of a short stick and thus served both as an arm-rest and a weapon. The use of ivory for animal-headed hilts by Mughal craftsmen is recorded, but the material is much less common than jade.  A walrus ivory-hilted dagger in the form of a lion was sold in these rooms, 8 May 1997, lot 98, and is now in the Al Sabah Collection, Kuwait (see Keene, 2001, p. 98, no. 8.14).  The carving of this example is slightly more naturalistic than the current lot, which points to a slightly later date for the double-headed form.