Islamic Art and Fine Objects

Lot 83:

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A SET OF QAJAR GOLD AND SILVER-DAMASCENED STEEL ARMOUR, PERSIA, 19TH CENTURY

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Start price: £3,800

Estimated price: £4,000 - £6,000

Buyer's premium:

Description

Comprising a helmet (khula-khud), a shield (sipar) and an arm-guard (bazuband), engraved and decorated in gold and silver overlay, the helmet with cartouches containing floral sprays, on a ground of dense foliate and floral interlace with a band of inscription-filled cartouches and roundels to the rim, the shield with cartouches containing quatrefoil floral motifs on a ground of dense foliate and floral interlace surrounded by a band of inscription-filled cartouches and roundels, the arm-guard with cartouches containing mounted horsemen and birds surrounded by floral tendrils, the helmet with noseguard flanked by plume holders, the camail with steel and brass rings forming horizontal bands, the shield mounted with four bosses, four suspension loops to reverse with straps

the shield 46.6 cm. diam(3)


Inscriptions: to the shield, Persian poems, not fully deciphered; to the helmet, Persian verses in praise of the helmet.

Persian armour features only one arm-guard, as in the present lot, with the shield being used on the other arm as defence. A comparable set of armour with similar engraved decoration is illustrated in R. Hales, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour: A Lifetime’s Passion, London, 2013, p. 316, no. 770.