A Mughal Jade-Hilted Horse-Head Dagger and Scabbard, India, 17th Century

the double-sided watered-steel blade chiselled at the forte, the hilt of pale green stone with an area of yellow inclusion, carved with floral motifs at the forte, the pommel rendered in the form of a horse's head with the mane descending to one side, together with leather-covered wooden scabbard

Spink & Son, London

Published Spink & Son, Indian and Islamic works of Art, London, 1992, pp. 36-37, cat. no. 25

blade with small areas of patination, particularly to the hilt, minor losses to leather on scabbard, as viewed.
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The grip of the hilt is carved with grooves for the hand. According to Stuart Cary Welch, these grooves indicate a date in the second half of the seventeenth century, as grooves are rarely found in the horse head khanjars of the Shah Jahan period. Welch's close study of the many figures in the Padshanama also reveals that the small number of daggers with animal hilts were reserved for the use of princes such as Dara Shikoh and Shah Shuja. While the number of daggers with animal hilts increased during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, these continued to function as indicators of the highest rank and position at court.

References:
1. Stuart Cary Welch, India: Art and Culture 1300-1900, 1986, pp.257-258.
2. Howard Ricketts and Philippe Missillier, Splendeur des Armes Orientales, 1988, pp. 95-101.