671 - Indian Khanjar Dagger, White Jade Pistol-Grip Hilt with Gemstones, Damascus Blade, 20th Century

Indian Khanjar Dagger, White Jade Pistol-Grip Hilt with Gemstones, Damascus Blade, 20th Century Steel, white jade, red and green gemstones. Indian khanjar dagger, also kandjar, 20th century, curved blade with visible Damascus pattern, at the forte on both sides a dark decorative field with arched top, engraved floral decoration and a contour line in gold koftgari (gold damascening), above it a small gold damascened flower motif, pistol-grip hilt of white jade with scrolled pommel and two-lobed hilt base, the grip with floral decoration of gold-coloured inlaid tendril lines in lozenge fields, within them flowers of red gemstones around a green central stone and sprigs with green gemstones, on pommel and hilt base teardrop-shaped green gemstones in gold-coloured mounts, good condition commensurate with age, crack in the grip, blade tip slightly bent, L. 39.5 cm, blade length 26 cm. The khanjar with curved blade and pistol-grip hilt is a dagger form of the Mughal period in India. Characteristic features of North Indian khanjars around 1800 include the curved pommel, stones set in flower form on the grip, the wootz or Damascus blade and the damascened cartouche at the forte; an example with a jade hilt, rubies and gold from the 19th century is held in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Mughal khanjars of this form were also exported to China and were prized at the Qing court, as pieces in the National Palace Museum in Taipei attest. The damascening of gold or silver onto blued steel is known in India as koftgari; the technique came to South Asia from Central Asia in the 14th century and was practised in workshops such as Sialkot, Lucknow, Jaipur and Alwar, above all on daggers, swords and shields.