Beautiful Persian Khanjar with calligraphic decoration Damascus steel, partly inlaid with gold Iran, 18th-19th century, Zand or Qadjar period H. 36 cm The curved, double-edged blade of this Persian khanjar is in fine damascus steel, with a central raised edge. It is engraved with mandorles in the upper part, and a flowery cartouche whose gold-inlaid background reveals calligraphy in negative ("Oh the Judge of all necessity, Oh the Competent in all things"). The steel handle is decorated with several calligraphic cartouches (Koranic verses and eulogies in Arabic and Persian), some inlaid with negative gold. The quality of execution of both the relief decoration and the gold-inlaid parts distinguishes this weapon from the majority of all-steel khanjars produced at the very end of the 19th century, most of which were intended for decorative purposes. (scabbard missing, gold missing)