Description
THREE MUGHAL ENGRAVED STEEL TORADAR (MATCHLOCK GUN) STEEL BARRELS AN EYE FOR DETAIL: PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ESTATE IN NORTHERN LONDON Possibly Lahore or Punjab, Northern India, 18th century Each of typical tapering cylindrical shape, with a wider, rounded breech and a gently fluted, everted muzzle, each steel barrel profusely engraved and chiselled with a variety of vegetal, floral, and animal motifs, comprising one with dense animal menagerie, featuring several horizontal bands in-filled with peacocks, lions, tigers, and animals of preys, on the muzzle a small rectangular cartouche inscribed in undeciphered pseudo-Arabic characters, possibly a form of free-hand Urdu or local dialect, the breech incised in correspondence of a large eagle with three lines of Devanagari script reading 'Raj Samadhi Pur Samadh...' and the serial number 608, 130cm long; another barrel engraved with interlocking rosette trellis, buti leaves (paisley), and vegetal arabesques, 126cm long; and the last one with tall cypress trees and rosette roundels alternating bands of foliage and palmette leaves, 116cm long. For an analogous steel toradar barrel engraved with animal and floral motifs reminiscent of the ones encountered on the surfaces of the present lot, please see the Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 38421). This matchlock gun, currently exhibited in the ballroom of Sandringham House, is attributed to Mughal 18th-century Lahore, and it was presented to King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, during his tour of India in 1875-76. Appreciated for their intricate decorations and exotic designs, Mughal steel barrels, often unmounted and deprived of their wooden stocks, became prized possessions in 19th-century Europe, forming a relevant category in the collections of arms lovers.
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THREE MUGHAL ENGRAVED STEEL TORADAR (MATCHLOCK GUN) STEEL BARRELS AN EYE FOR DETAIL: PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ESTATE IN NORTHERN LONDON Possibly Lahore or Punjab, Northern India, 18th century Each of typical tapering cylindrical shape, with a wider, rounded breech and a gently fluted, everted muzzle, each steel barrel profusely engraved and chiselled with a variety of vegetal, floral, and animal motifs, comprising one with dense animal menagerie, featuring several horizontal bands in-filled with peacocks, lions, tigers, and animals of preys, on the muzzle a small rectangular cartouche inscribed in undeciphered pseudo-Arabic characters, possibly a form of free-hand Urdu or local dialect, the breech incised in correspondence of a large eagle with three lines of Devanagari script reading 'Raj Samadhi Pur Samadh...' and the serial number 608, 130cm long; another barrel engraved with interlocking rosette trellis, buti leaves (paisley), and vegetal arabesques, 126cm long; and the last one with tall cypress trees and rosette roundels alternating bands of foliage and palmette leaves, 116cm long. For an analogous steel toradar barrel engraved with animal and floral motifs reminiscent of the ones encountered on the surfaces of the present lot, please see the Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 38421). This matchlock gun, currently exhibited in the ballroom of Sandringham House, is attributed to Mughal 18th-century Lahore, and it was presented to King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, during his tour of India in 1875-76. Appreciated for their intricate decorations and exotic designs, Mughal steel barrels, often unmounted and deprived of their wooden stocks, became prized possessions in 19th-century Europe, forming a relevant category in the collections of arms lovers.
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