- Title
- Sword Hilt
- Date Made
- circa 1800-50
- Medium
- Dark green nephrite jade with foil-backed rubies and garnets, and turquoise set in gold
- Dimensions
- 5 1/2 x 4 1/8 x 2 3/4 in. (13.97 x 10.48 x 6.99 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.76.2.15
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
The sword hilt has a flat disc pommel, a technical feature popularized during the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58) and subsequently favored in sword hilts made in the Delhi area. The end of the pommel has a small dome with a bud finial with a bail (swingable suspension or tassel hoop). It has straight quillons (cross guards) and a squared off langet (tongue-like stabilizing projection at the mouth of the hilt). An S-shaped knuckle-bow (finger guard) with a pendant bud terminal extends from the end of a quillon and connects to the edge of the pommel disk. The grip is baluster vase-shaped with chamfered faces surmounted by a plain roll border and rows of acanthus leaves enriching the flaring transition to the underside of the pommel.
Apart from the grip, the surface of the jade is enlivened with vegetal motifs in shallow relief and inset in circular gold mounts with foil-backed rubies and garnets. Turquoise is sparingly inlaid in gold on both sides of the hilt in the form of two larger pieces shaped like flower heads with two smaller leaves.
Turquoise was revered take during the Mughal era for its purported therapeutic powers. The best-known turquoise, and traditionally regarded as the finest, was sourced near Nishapur, Iran, but turquoise for the jewelry trade was also mined in Afghanistan and present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. By the late 19th century, turquoise and faux-turquoise jewelry from Kashmir was extensively imported and traded in northern India.
- Selected Bibliography
- Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.