- Title
- Knife and Sheath
- Date Made
- late 18th-19th century
- Medium
- Knife: Silver, repoussé and chased, silver wire; inset with coral; iron blade
Sheath: Silver, repoussé and chased; inset with coral and turquoise; parcel-gilt iron; wood core
- Dimensions
- a) Knife: 16 3/4 x 2 x 1 1/4 in. (42.55 x 5.08 x 3.18 cm); b) Sheath: 14 x 2 x 1 5/8 in. (35.56 x 5.08 x 4.13 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2003.143a-b
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This ornate Tibetan knife and sheath are made in a conventional form shared with later Tibetan swords (see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 36.25.1462a,b). The silver hilt has a trefoil pommel enriched with a red coral in a bezel setting. The surface is enlivened with a chased stylized lotus on the back and flowering stalks on the front and sides. The grip, usually featuring a wooden core, is wrapped in braided silver wire. It has a grip collar with chased floral scrolls. The oval sword guard has repoussé floral scrolls on the edge and an overhanging socket collar for securing the scabbard’s locket. The straight iron blade is double-edged with a symmetrical point. The scabbard has a wooden core with a U-shaped iron frame with a rounded tip and parcel-gilt floral scrolls. The locket and the central tract of the front of the scabbard are silver repoussé with prancing snow lions and floral scrolls. It is inset with red coral and turquoise. The reverse of the scabbard has a central tract of silver repoussé. It is decorated with a flowering creeper interspersed with a pair of fish, a bird, rabbits, horses, and an elephant.
The blade is engraved in Tibetan with the name of a monastery, Tengye Ling, and an inventory number 1452. Tengye Ling was one of the Four Royal Colleges (Ling Shi) built in or around Lhasa. It was the seat of the Dalai Lamas’ Regents of the Demo Tulkus lineage. Built in the early 1760s, it was destroyed in 1914 after Chinese forces occupied Lhasa.