Often tucked into a sash or horseman’s boot, daggers in Mughal India displayed the wealth and power of their owners. The white jade hilt of this dagger is carved with flowers arranged in a formal pattern. A long serrated leaf runs the length of the hilt, following its curve; this curved shape, called a pistol grip, originated in the Deccan and first appeared in Mughal paintings during the reign of Shah Jahan, around the time in which this dagger was made.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Dagger with Hilt of Leafy Plants
Date:ca. 1640
Geography:Attributed to India
Medium:Hilt: Nephrite Blade: Watered steel
Dimensions:Max length with handle: 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm) Length of the Handle: 4 13/16 in. (12.2 cm) Length of the Blade: 9 11/16 in. (24.6 cm) Width of bottom of the handle: 2 in. (5.1 cm)
Classification:Arms and Armor
Credit Line:Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Spear Jr. Gift, 1982
Accession Number:1982.321
Khanjar
If weapons can be lyrical, this one is. Organic as a seashell, with its row of gently swaying flowers along the grip, acanthus leaves, and unexcelled craftsmanship, this dagger is the finest of the pistol-grip type. It can be assigned to an imperial artist-craftsman, perhaps to the genius who made Shahjahan's gourd-into-goat wine cup (Victoria and Albert Museum, London [I. S. 12-1962], no. 167 in this volume). Presumably, it was carved for Aurangzeb, who is shown wearing a very similar weapon in the portrait of him hunting nilgai (Chester Beatty Library, Dublin [Ms. 11, no 27], no. 176 in this volume). A thorough search through the miniatures of the Windsor Padshah-nama, the best source for weaponry at Shah Jahan's court, reveals no examples of this form of hilt, which first appears in portraits of Aurangzeb. The origin of the form can be traced to the Deccan, where it must have been admired by Aurangzeb and adapted for his use during his years there as viceroy. In early stages of their evolution, which probably began in the southern Deccan, pistol grips terminated not in the familiar rounded abstract shape but in parrot heads, complete with beaks and eyes. Deccani examples of the seventeenth century (such as no. 202 in this volume) already incorporate this change. After Aurangzeb had established a vogue for them, pistol-grip hilts became common at the Mughal court during the late seventeenth and the eighteenth century; some of them archaistically repeat the original parrot design.
[Welch 1985]
[ Greater India Company, Inc., Cambridge, MA, until 1982; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "INDIA !," September 14–September 14, 1985, no. 177.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Romance of the Taj Mahal," December 17, 1989–March 11, 1990, no. 169.
Toledo, OH. Toledo Museum of Art. "Romance of the Taj Mahal," April 28, 1990–June 24, 1990, no. 169.
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Romance of the Taj Mahal," August 23, 1990–November 25, 1990, no. 169.
Welch, Stuart Cary. The Art of Mughal India : Painting and Precious Objects. An Asia House Gallery publication. New York: Asia Society, 1963. (related).
Hambly, Gavin. Cities of Mughul India, Delhi Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. London, 1968. (related).
Welch, Stuart Cary. Imperial Mughal Painting. New York: George Braziller, 1978. (related).
Galloway, Francesca, and Michael Spink. "To be Exhibited for Sale by Spink & Son Ltd., London, 24 April - 10 May 1980." In Islamic Art from India. London: Spink & Son Ltd., 1980. (related).
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 40 (1982–1983). pp. 12–13, ill. (color, detail in b/w).
Skelton, Robert. "Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule." In The Indian Heritage. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982. no. 66, p. 44.
Welch, Stuart Cary. India: Art and Culture 1300–1900. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1985. no. 177, pp. 270–71, ill. p. 270 (b/w).
Welch, Stuart Cary. The Islamic World. vol. 11. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 150, ill. fig. 115 (color).
Pal, Pratapaditya. Romance of the Taj Mahal. London; Los Angeles: Thames and Hudson, 1989–1991. no. 169, pp. 155, 158, ill. fig. 169 (b/w).
Alexander, David G., and Stuart W. Pyhrr. "in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." In Islamic Arms and Armor. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. no. 84, pp. 214–15, ill.
INDIA!, an exhibition of the art of India from the fourteenth through the nineteenth century, opened on this day in 1985 as part of a nationwide Festival of India jointly organized by the Government of India and the Indo-U.S. Sub-commission on Education and Culture.
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