1758 - Ornate Shamshir

Ornate Shamshir Dagestan, probably Kubachi, circa 1890. A vessel made entirely of elaborately decorated silver, with a pommel shaped like a horse’s head. A finely punched silver chain runs from the horse’s mouth to the front end of the crossguard; the lower mounting ring has been restored. Outstanding silversmithing: the floral tendril patterns on a gilded, finely dotted background are flawlessly and evenly cut and, like the horse’s mane and bridle, are nielloed. A faceted red glass stone is set into the center of the guard’s front face. The ends of the guard are formed into ornate knots with a spiral cut. The hilt, as well as the transition to the guard, is structured by masterfully executed granulation. A strongly curved back blade (L 70.5 cm) made of wootz steel (crucible-melted steel) with a smoothed but visible working texture. The scabbard, made of exceptionally thick silver sheet, is decorated on the front side en suite with the hilt, reflecting the highest standards of silversmithing from the Caucasus region, and set with six additional red, faceted glass stones on the front. Here, too, the two ring bands for attaching the scabbard to the saber belt and the long, extended pommel band are accented with granulation. The reverse side features polished silver sheet metal with geometric and floral niello decoration. The robustly crafted scabbard hanger consists of wavy-cut and nielloed silver. L 85 cm, W 930 g; silver scabbard L 85 cm, W 1490 g.