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Dagger with Tiger-Head Pommel

A work made of steel blade; hilt of quartz (?) underlaid with red resin and inset in the kundan technique, with gold leaf and polychrome enamel (minakari).
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of steel blade; hilt of quartz (?) underlaid with red resin and inset in the kundan technique, with gold leaf and polychrome enamel (minakari).

Date:

17th/18th century

Artist:

India
Northern India or Deccan

About this artwork

This dagger has a plain, double-edged steel blade and an exquisitely decorated hilt. The cross guard is inlaid with quartz gemstones and displays the heads of two blue, tusked elephants. A cerise-colored enameled handle separates the cross guard from the golden tiger’s head pommel, which is adorned with additional jewels arranged in floral and foliate patterns. The process for creating this haft, known as kundan, entails using soft gold for setting and polychrome enameling. Richly embellished daggers like this one would have been worn tucked into the waist sash of a prominent individual.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Asia

Title

Dagger with Tiger-Head Pommel

Place

Northern India (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1601–1800

Medium

Steel blade; hilt of quartz (?) underlaid with red resin and inset in the kundan technique, with gold leaf and polychrome enamel (minakari)

Dimensions

29.9 × 6.4 × 2.9 cm (11 3/4 × 2 1/2 × 1 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Marilynn B. Alsdorf

Reference Number

2014.1197

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/153531/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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