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A Steel Firangi Blade with Shah Jahan Inscription, India, Dated A.H. 1055?/ A.D. 1645-1646, and 25th regnal year / A.D. 1653
Description
Literature
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
inscriptions
The stamp on the forte reads: Sahib-i Qiran-i-Sani
'The Second Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction' (of two planets) - the title of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) also used by his ancestor Timur. There is also a date beginning 10 with the second two numbers worn, possibly 55 = A.H. 1055 / A.D. 1645-46.
On the tang: istimal 8 rabil ul awwal 25 (year).
'Used on the 8th Rabi i 25th regnal year', in other words the 5th month of the Hijra calender = A.D. 1653.
On the reverse: 20 jumada ul awwal...Ibrahim Husain
The word is illegible prior to the name of Ibrahim Husain who was probably a tahwildar or high Mughal servant who recorded when his master wore this particular sword.
In the sixteenth century the Europeans established trading posts on the coast of India and one of the popular commodities they sold were swords which they brought from Italy, Germany and Spain. For this reason in the Deccan and northern India imported European blades were called jahaji, from the Persian jahazi meaning a 'ship', though they were also known as Firangi meaning 'foreign' or, rather loosely, Alamani meaning 'German'.
In the Mughal court and much of princely India from the late-sixteenth century it was customary to wear two swords at the same time. One sword, worn at the waist, was termed kamr shamshir (Persian) or 'belt sword'. These were curved and often had imported Persian watered steel blades and jewelled jade tulwar hilts. The other sword was the asa shamshir (Persian), otherwise known in the Deccan as a Dhup (Marathi) or 'staff sword', which had long, straight, imported European blades and a khanda or basket hilt.
The dhup and asa shamshir were considered an emblem of authority, conferred as a mark of distinction by the ruler (Irvine, W., The Army of the Indian Moghuls, reprinted Delhi, 1962). The kamr shamshir with its delicate hilt and high carbon watered steel blade was a thing of beauty but suffered from being fragile. The asa shamshir was a much stronger weapon that could be relied upon in battle; and because of the prestige and expense of imported Firangi blades, was also a status symbol. These long tapering blades can be seen in early court painting, their owners leaning on them as they stood in durbar in patient attendance on the ruler.
The Mughals adopted the asa shamshir from the Deccan in the sixteenth century. Father Monserrate who arrived at the Mughal Court in 1574 says that Akbar always appeared fully armed when he went out and was very fond of wearing European swords and daggers. A large number of European sword blades were imported in the seventeenth century and are still to be found in Indian armouries. Hawkins describes Jahangir's two thousand swords with German blades and jewelled hilts and scabbards.
Abu'l Fazl, in his A'in-i Akbari, (Abu'l Fazl, Ain-i Akbari, trans. Henry Blochmann, 3 vols., reprinted Delhi, 1978, vol. I, p.116) describes the routine practice regarding the Mughal Emperor's personal swords: 'All weapons for the use of His Majesty have names, and a proper rank is assigned to them. Thus there are thirty swords (khasa swords), one of which is sent daily to His Majesty's sleeping quarters. The old one is returned, and handed over to the servants outside the harem, who keep it till its turn comes again. Forty other swords are kept in readiness; they are called kotal swords. When the number of khasa swords (in consequence of presents etc.) has decreased to twelve, they supply new ones from the kotal swords.'
Most Shah Jahan sword blades have been remounted during their working life. A kanda with a gold umbrella mark, dated A.H. 1042/ A.D. 1632-1633, with Shah Jahan's name inlaid is in the Royal armouries, Leeds (XXVIS.25). Similar to the present blade is another Shah Jahan Firangi sword blade 80cm. long, inscribed in Persian with another title ' Badshah Gazi', the Solingen blade with the running wolf mark, in the Wallace Collection (O.A. 1796.). This blade too has been re-mounted. A Shah Jahan sword bearing a gold umbrella mark with a long nastaliq inscription including his famous title 'Sahib-i Qiran-i-Sani' is in the Archaeological Museum, Delhi. Another Shah Jahan sword with a Firangi blade inscribed 'Emperor of Ocean and Land' was exhibited at the Delhi Exhibition in 1911 (Sanderson, G., Loan Exhibition of Antiquities, Coronation Durbar, 1911, The Archaeological Survey of India). These Mughal swords were either given as kil'at or dispersed during the period of Mughal decline in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Firangi swords of the type owned by the Mughal Emperors were in general use across princely India. For example, the last Qutb Shahi Sultan Abul Hasan owned a Firangi blade sword, now in the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad and the great Mahrattan leader Sivaji had a famous khanda called 'Bhavani' with a European blade, described by a nineteenth-century observer as a 'fine Ferrara blade, four feet in length, with a spike upon the hilt to thrust with.'