Peter Finer - Arms & Armour of Asia 2018

P E T E R

F I N E R

FINE ANTIQUE AR MS, AR MOUR & REL ATED OBJECTS

ARMS & ARMOUR OF ASIA

ARMS & ARMOUR OF ASIA

FINE ANTIQUE ARMS, ARMOUR & RELATED OBJECTS 38–39 Duke Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6DF T: +44 (0)20 7839 5666 | F: +44 (0)20 7839 5777 | E: gallery@peterfiner.com www.peterfiner.com

We number these museums and foundations among our valued clients:

ASIA Chi Mei Culture Foundation, Taiwan The National Museum of Singapore

CANADA The Glenbow Museum, Calgary

EUROPE Deutsches Klingenmuseum, Solingen Rüstkammer, Dresden Landesmuseum für Kultur- und Landesgeschichte, Schloss Tirol Stedelijke Musea Kortrijk

GREAT BRITAIN The Victoria and Albert Museum, London The Aberdeen Art Gallery The Royal Armouries, Leeds The National Army Museum, London The Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh The Royal Scots Regimental Museum, Edinburgh

IRELAND The National Museum of Ireland, Dublin

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Philadelphia Museum of Art The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Cleveland Museum of Art The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City The Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame

38–39 Duke Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6DF T: +44 (0)20 7839 5666 | F: +44 (0)20 7839 5777 | E: gallery@peterfiner.com www.peterfiner.com

Dear Friends and Valued Clients,

This catalogue contains Tibetan, Ottoman, Indian, Vietnamese and Japanese pieces. The imagination and skill evident in the metalwork on these remarkable objects is something we are excited to share: note the three layers of scrolling plates on the decoration of the Tibetan saddle (catalogue no. 1, and at left). The design, quality and condition of this saddle make it a rare find, and for many, an object never before seen, even in a museum collection.

Both the thematic playfulness and minute detail of the metalwork on the Japanese katana and tanto (catalogue nos. 14 and 15) are astounding to discover. We invite you to the gallery in the hope that you may view these works for yourself.

For this catalogue we are indebted to the expertise and vast experience of Dr Thom Richardson FSA, Curator Emeritus at the Royal Armouries. He is former Deputy Master (2014–2015), and Keeper of Armour and Oriental Collections (1996–2014). We thank him for his scholarship cataloguing these pieces. We are grateful to Ian Bottomley for his work on the Japanese sword and dagger. We would also like to thank Peter Dekker for his help, and Rainer Daehnhardt.

We hope to see you soon, and in the meantime, enjoy the catalogue.

Redmond Finer

Peter Finer

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Roland Finer

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An Exceptionally Fine Saddle (gser sga) 15th – 17th century

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A Rare Vajra Axe (rdo rje dgra sto) 15th century

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An Exceptionally Rare and Fine Arm Defence 14th – 16th century

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A Fine Pen Case 15th – 16th century

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A Very Fine Pair of Stirrups 16th – 18th century

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A Rare Bridle and Fittings 16th – 18th century

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An Exceptionally Rare Matchlock musket (song hoa mai) 17th century

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A Rare Vambrace (dastana) Late 17th or early 18th century

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S A Dagger (khanjar) 18th century

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A Fine and Extremely Rare Pair of Repeating Flintlock Pistols Dated 1799/1800 (1214 AH)

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A Superb Sword (kılıç) and Scabbard Mid-18th – early 19th century

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A Fine Dagger (hancer) and Scabbard 19th century

13

A Rare Bronze Cannon Dated 1857

14

An Exceptional Sword (katana) and Mountings

by Hagiya Katsuhira c. 1880

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A Very Fine Dagger (aikuchi tanto) by Hagiya Katsuhira c. 1880

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1

An Exceptionally Fine Saddle (gser sga) 15th – 17th century

Eastern Tibetan or Chinese Iron, silver, gilding, wood, leather 30 × 56 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, UK

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he saddles of the eastern steppe and the Tibetan plateau from

The present saddle is highly unusual in having a double layer of

the fourth century onwards are renowned for their exquisite

fretted and gilded iron plates which cover the exposed sections of

metal fittings. This saddle is one of a distinctive group with a high,

the saddle tree. Only one other piece of horse furniture from the

narrow pommel and a low, reclining cantle, comparable to a saddle

region also uses a second layer of plates to provide a heightened

and a group of saddle plates in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

sense of relief: the fittings of the bridle in the Metropolitan Museum

New York (nos 1999.318, 2000.404, La Rocca 2006, 224–7, nos 118–9)

of Art, New York (no 1998.282, La Rocca 2006, 250–1, no 135). These

and another in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (no. xxvih.30), both dated

are of solid, dark iron decorated in gold overlay with designs

to the 17th–18th centuries. The Royal Armouries example has

however, rather than gilded fretwork, but the analogy suggest a

additional relief; the dragons are carved separately and are mobile

similar, earlier date than the other saddles in the group.

within the foliate fretwork.

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A Rare Vajra Axe (rdo rje dgra sto)

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15th century

Sino-Tibetan Iron, brass, silver, gold, turquoise 47.2 × 14 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, Japan

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his little axe has a blade in the form of the flaying knife (gri-gug or kartrika) was used in the tantric ceremonies of Vajrayana

Buddhism and is thought to be a stylised form of elephant goad

(ankus). The hafts of these weapons usually terminate, as here, in a half-vajra − the stylised thunderbolt symbolising the unbreakable nature of absolute knowledge. A closely comparable axe in the Cleveland Museum of Art (no.1978.9.1) is inlaid with the inscription of the Ming Yongle emperor (1403 – 25), and forms part of a group of presentation pieces thought to have been dedicated to Tibetan monasteries early in the Ming dynasty (Richardson 1996, LaRocca 2006, 148–50, 185): in 1407 a high-ranking monastic patriarch visited the emperor and was presented with a number of gifts of which the, axe, ritual sceptres (now in the British Museum and Metropolitan Museum, nos 1981.0207.1, 1993.69.5) and a flaying knife, also in the Cleveland Museum of Art (no. 1978.9.3, Watt & Leidy 2005, 79–81, pl.

30–2) in the group bearing the Yongle mark, as well, probably, as the sword, are thought to have been included.

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An Exceptionally Rare and Fine Arm Defence

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14th – 16th century

Likely Tibetan Iron, brass 31.5 × 14 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, France

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n addition to leather arm defences, a small group of forearm defences were made of iron in Tibet. Only one other example

of this rare form of vambrace is known; it is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (no. 2001.558, LaRocca 2006, 142–3, no. 52) and is almost identical to the present example. The differences are enough to show that the two defences are not a pair: the New

York example lacks the transverse ribs of the present piece, has reinforcing bars of iron and has single rather than double fretted slots. Indeed no true pairs of these arm defences exist, and LaRocca suggests they were made as bridle defences for the left arm only.

Like their leather counterparts, these defences were worn on the bow arm by cavalry, either in Mongolia or in Tibet. The ribbed form of the present piece is reminiscent of a number of early Indian dastana, which are similarly decorated with transverse embossed ribs, such as the dastana in the Royal Armouries, no. xxvia.195.

Defense for the Left Forearm, 14th – 16th century, possibly Tibetan, Iron, 28.6 × 12.1 cm, Rogers Fund, 2001 2001.558, © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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A Fine Pen Case

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15th – 16th century

Eastern Tibet, Derge Iron, gold Length: 35 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, UK

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his extremely fine example of Tibetan inlaid metalwork comes from the centre of the Derge kingdom of eastern Tibet. It is

closely comparable with an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, no. 1992.257.1, which has the same fluted form, as does an example in the Shanghai Museum (Shanghai 2001, 208, no. 118). The scrolling ornament is closely related to a series of royal pieces made in China at the court of the Ming Yongle Emperor for presentation to the great Tibetan monasteries (see the vajra-axe in this collection for references). The fretted and gilded iron pen case in the British Museum, presented to Charles Bell by Tsa-rong

Shape on behalf of the Tibetan Government in 1933, is related and of similar quality.

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A Very Fine Pair of Stirrups

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16th – 18th century

Tibetan Iron, silver, gilding 15 × 15 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, Belgium

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hese stirrups are closely comparable to a wonderful pair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig. 1., no. 1997.214.2,

LaRocca 2006, 245, no. 130), which were acquired with a saddle

said to have been used by the young Gyalwa Tenzin Gyatso in the 1930s, at ceremonies following his identification as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. The present stirrups are even more ornate than the Met examples, with rare additional dragons at the foot of each post, which are heavier and of D-section. The use of silver overlay on a cross-hatched ground, generally known by the Indian term koftgari, is described in Tashi Namgyal’s Treatise on Worldly Traditions as characteristic of Tibetan and Chinese stirrups, while he records that Mongol stirrups were decorated with true inlay (LaRocca 29006, 214–5). The square earrings of the precious minister motif form one of the Seven Jewel Insignia of the Chakravartin of Tibetan Buddhism.

Pair of Stirrups, 16th – 18th century, Tibetan, Iron, gold, silver, 13 x 12 cm, Rogers Fund and Bequest of Stephen V. Grancsay, 1997.214.2a and b, © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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6

A Rare Bridle and Fittings 16th – 18th century

Tibetan Textile, leather, iron, copper, gold 28 × 51 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, Germany

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ome of the most extravagant metalwork of the Himalayan Plateau was lavished on horse furniture, and some of the

bridles that survive today have the finest of all known Tibetan

decorative metalwork. The present bridle is comparable to two in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (nos 2005.73, 1998.282, La Rocca 2006, 248–51, nos 134–5) if of slightly simpler form.

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An Exceptionally Rare Matchlock Musket (song hoa mai) c. 1620 – 1660

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Vietnamese Steel, wood, copper, gold, silver 112.5 cm, barrel 83.5 cm

he snap matchlock mechanism, which was adopted in Japan and used for their hinawa ju were popular during the period

of Portuguese colonial expansion and spread to Asia where they were copied in Goa, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam and Japan.

PROVENANCE

Recent scholarship has identified a substantial group of weapons

Private collection, Germany

to Tonkinese manufacture, including the magnificent weaponsrack replete with swords, naginata and matchlock guns, given to Cornelis Tromp in 1679 by his nephew, Dirk Blom and manufactured between 1650–79 (Sint Nicolaas 2014). The two matchlock muskets in Tromp’s weapons rack (Rijksmuseum NG-NM-6091–A) are extremely close in form and decorative details to the musket presented here, and the arsenal number engraved on the breech strap of the present gun is similar to those often found on Dutch arms and armour of the period.

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A Rare Vambrace (dastana) Late 17th or early 18th century

India, Deccan Iron, gold, textile 31.8 × 9.4 cm PROVENANCE

Corbin Collection, France

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he armour of the Mughal sowar cavalry comprised a mail and plate coat, helmet, shield and pair of vambraces or dastana,

Persian bazuband. The present dastana compares to the partially

fluted example in the Royal Armouries, no. xxvia.272 and fully fluted no.

xxvia.289

and the pair inscribed with the name of Nāder Qolī

in the National Museums Scotland (Elwell-Sutton 1979, figs 17–18).

Another partially fluted example in the Furusiyya Art Foundation (Mohamed 2008, 312, no. 300) is dated 1101 ah (1689/90), while further examples of this type are in the Metropolitan museum of Art, New York, from the Stone collection nos 36.25.387 and 419.

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A Dagger (khanjar)

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18th century

Indian, Mughal Iron, gold, nephrite jade Overall length: 39.3cm PROVENANCE

Warwick Castle Armoury, England Howard Ricketts 1970s Robert Hales, 1980’s Private collection, Belgium, 1980s-2018 EXHIBITED AND PUBLISHED

Exhibition of Works of Art, Arms and Armour, Howard Ricketts Ltd, Dec 1972

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ade from central Asia was in high demand at the court of the Mughal Emperors, for the manufacture of all sorts of decorative

arts. Not least of these were dagger hilts, where the Timurid heritage of the Mughals could be displayed as part of their dress.

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10

A Fine and Extremely Rare Pair of Repeating Flintlock Pistols Dated 1799/1800 (1214 AH)

India, Chidambaram Steel, brass, gold and wood Each 46 cm

The Persian inscription on the pistols reads: ‘Work of Chalembrom (?). Panshari (i.e. Pondicherry) (?), year 1214 (1799/1800).’

On the third side of the barrel, in Persian, an invocation to ‘Abbas,

PROVENANCE

the son of ‘Ali:

The Nizam of Hyderabad Henk Visser Collection

‘O Exalted ‘Abbas [son of] ‘Ali!’ On the receiver: ‘Sarkar Sikandar Jah Bahadur’

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he only known example of Chalembron pistols from India, these are inscribed on the barrel Kār Chalebrom sanat 1214, and

in an ownership inscription on the breech strap for Sikandar Jah, the Nizam of Hyderabad (r.1803–29), before his accession and the

adoption of his regnal title Asaf Jah III. Flintlock pistols made in India are a considerable rarity. The few that exist are based on European weapons, either of Indian manufacture or made by Europeans working in India such as Claude Martin, supervisor of the Lucknow arsenal in the late eighteenth century.

One such European centre was the French colony of Chalembrom or Chalembron, where an arms manufactory in the French colonial settlement developed a system for repeating flintlocks where tubes below the barrel retained powder and balls for twenty shots. Two long guns survive in the Royal collection, one signed Chalembrom à Pondichery and dated 1785 (RCIN90672, Carlton House 3011, Laking 1904, 413), the other dated 1802 (RCIN90673, Carlton House 540, Laking 1904, 430), and two more are preserved in the Musée de l’Armée, Paris, (nos M665–6), one inscribed Fait Chalembrom à Pondichery and dated 1785, the other by Jean Bouillet à St Etienne.

Another version was made by Claude Martin at the Lucknow arsenal (formerly Joe Kindig collection, Blackmore 1965, 87).

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11

A Superb Sword (kılıç) and Scabbard Mid-18th – early 19th century

Ottoman Turkish Horn, steel, gold 80.6 cm, blade 64.5 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, Europe

The Arabic inscription on the sword reads:

‫ال فتی اال علی‬ ‫ال سیف اال ذوالفقار‬ There is no hero but ‘Ali There is no sword but Dhu’l-Fiqar and

‫توكلت على اهلل‬ I put my trust in God

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his is the characteristic sword of the Turkish nobility at the height of the Ottoman Empire. It compares

to the sword presented to the Duke of Cambridge in

1816 in the Royal Armouries, no. ix.3778 (Richardson 2015, 51), the sword of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha, Albanian ruler of Egypt and another example in the Stefanis Foundation, Athens, nos NN15, 0345 (Elgood 2009, 70–71, nos 52–3) as well as OA1942 in the Wallace Collection. A sword with a similar decorative scheme, including the same inscriptions on blades, is in the collection of the State Historical Museum, St Petersburg, (nos 1820 and 8417, dated respectively 1744/5 and 1800/1.) Like it, the present blade may be earlier than its current mounting.

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A Fine Dagger (hancer) and Scabbard 19th century

Ottoman Turkish Steel, rubies, emeralds, sapphire, silver, gold 40.5 cm, blade 29.4 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, Germany

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his dagger belongs to a group of gem-studded weapons dating to the latter years of the Ottoman Empire, probably

made in Istanbul. It is relates to a gilded tray of daggers, one even more flamboyant, the scabbards of the others very similar, in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (no. 23.232.1–6), whose strapwork scabbard decoration is close enough to suggest the same hand, and another dagger from the Stone collection in the same museum with a scabbard of the same group (no. 36.25.993).

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13

A Rare Bronze Cannon Dated 1857

Vietnam, probably Hue Bronze 76.5 cm × 15.5 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, USA

T

he regnal name of Tự Đức 嗣德 emperor of Vietnam (r. 1848–83), full name Nguyen Phuc Hong Nham, fourth emperor of the

Nguyen dynasty, provides the date and context of the gun. Born in 1829, Tự Đức shut Vietnam off from the rest of the world and

shunned modernisation.

Under the Nguyen Vietnam was profoundly Confucian and looked to China for its philosophical and artistic inspiration, enforcing a code of Chinese dress. Such cannon were being cast in Vietnam from the early sixteenth century (Tarling 40–2), and the extent of Chinese influence in this early manufacture is emphasised by Sun Laiching (2011). The importance of cannon to the Nguyen dynasty is indicated by their establishment of a foundry at Hue, established in 1615 and organised in the mid seventeenth century by the AfroPortuguese founder Joao da Cruz (Li 1998, 45). Cannon became symbolic of the dynasty, as the Nine Holy Cannon of Hue (Cửu Vị Thần Công), cast in 1803 to the orders of the first Nguyen emperor Gia Long (1762–1820, Boobbyer 2013, 96, Schellinger & Salkin 1996, 364), cast from bronze captured from the defeated Tây Sơn rebels.

It was still of major importance in the mid-nineteenth century, ‘the palace of the emperor is also an edifice of great size and strength, and there are here a large cannon factory and dockyard’ (Goodrich 1856, 457).

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14

An Exceptional Sword (katana) and Mountings

by Hagiya Katsuhira c. 1880

Japan, Meiji Period Steel, gold, silver, bronze, shakudo, shagreen, lacquer, wood, textile 99.3 cm, blade 94.6 cm, tang 21.2 cm PROVENANCE

Michael Tomkinson collection, London (Tomkinson 1898, 1, 147–8, no. 40, ill.)

Private collection, Germany

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his set of mounts are very elaborate and of high quality produced by the finest artists, but in a style designed to appeal

to western taste. The wearing of swords was banned in Japan in

1876, and swordsmiths and metalworkers who depended on them for their livelihood had to find other outlets for their craft. One of these was the growing Western market, where Japanese crafts rapidly became highly fashionable.

The maker of the mounts, Hagiya Katsuhira (1804–86), art name Seiryōken, was taught first by his brother Katsufusa, known as Terakado Yosaburo. He studied further under Shinozaki Katsushige and Oyama Motozane, playing an important role among the metalworkers of Mito province, and after the Meiji restoration became Professor at the Tokyo Art Academy (Sesko 2012, 303–5).

Fudo Myo-ō s is the Buddhist divinity who defends the faith and guides deceased souls, but whose martial aspect made him a favourite with warriors. The colour and texture of the tang together with the general style of the blade suggests it was made during the Meiji period, but Katsuhira made new mounts for old blades too, compare the mounting for a tachi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art no. 91.2.59.

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A Very Fine Dagger (aikuchi tanto) by Hagiya Katsuhira c. 1880

Japan, Meiji Period Steel, gold, silver, laquer, silk, shakudo, rayskin, wood 45.6 cm, blade 42 cm, tang 9.5 cm PROVENANCE

Private collection, USA

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ost of the fittings are signed 生涼軒勝平 Seiryōken Katsuhira with kao; for full details of the maker, see the katana entry

above. Mountings with writhing dragons appear to have been a favourite theme of Katsuhira’s. Oni, are a form of humanoid ogre with short stubby horns and claws, that are often more mischievous than evil, and feature, along with a variety of Buddhist divinities, in the decoration. Like the katana, this is a decorative product of high

quality designed to appeal to the Western market in a time when the public wearing of swords had been prohibited in Japan in the Haitōre edict of 1876.

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ITEM DESCRIPTIONS at either side or borders of scalloped brass bands at either side. On the outside of the main plate are riveted three reeded brass reinforcing bands terminating at the elbow border in fretted fleurons. The main edge at the cuff on all three plates has a boxed outward turn.

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An Exceptionally Fine Saddle (gser sga)

A Rare Vajra Axe (rdo rje dgra sto)

15th – 17th century This extraordinary early saddle comprises a wooden frame formed of two sideboards to which the bow and cantle are attached by leather thongs − at the bow with a band of leather reinforcing the attachment, and an adjacent leather band, fitted with iron straps and loops for the girth. Parts of the outside of the frame are covered in sinew, while the inside is painted a vibrant red. The end boards (sga yag), the exposed terminals of the sideboards, and the pommel of the saddle

15th century The blade has the assymetrical hooked form of the kartrika, chiselled and gilded with a band of silvered cloud scrolls in relief at the back. It is connected to a ball finial decorated in gold inlay with a triple ray motif on a silvered ground, to which two half-vajras, both gilt,

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the upper one more ornate and set with turquoises, are

A Fine Pen Case

attached through lotus bases. The haft is also of iron, blackened and decorated with scrolling foliage in silver

15th – 16th century

with gilded flowers, terminates in a further gilded halfvajra, the most ornate of the three, on a lotus base.

This ribbed container for a pen is made in two sections, joined at the pierced lug where the halves were tied

bow and cantle are covered with pairs of elaborately

together using a leather thong or textile cord. The

decorated fretted gilt iron plates, twelve in total.

sides of the case are ribbed and inlaid in gold with panels of abstract scrolling ornament.

The outer plates are pierced and chiselled with remarkable sinuous, scaly, four-clawed dragons, who writhe though a tracery of scrolling foliage terminating in buds, with leaves and flowers. The inner plates show a denser tracery of scrolling vines. The borders of the outer plate are silvered over a cross-hatched ground; those of the inner plates are plain, with the fretted central portions of inner and outer plates gilded. Holes for leather thongs that attach the peytral and crupper form flowers or plain discs on the outer plates, but these are plain iron on the inner. The rim of the cantle has a similar but narrower pair of plates, the outer fretted with elongated dragons, the inner with dense foliate scrollwork.

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An Exceptionally Rare and Fine Arm Defence 14th – 16th century

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The present arm defence is formed of three iron plates, one for the outside of the arm, which flares towards

A Very Fine Pair of Stirrups 16th – 18th century

the elbow, where it ends in a low curve and extends round the underside of the forearm, and a smaller

The tread (mthil) of each stirrup is in the form of a

plate attached by hinges at the front to the main plate,

rounded rectangular platform decorated in silver

cut away for the elbow joint, and fastened with two

koftgari with a guilloche border and a design of

sprung studs at the centre. Both plates are embossed

interlocking square earrings of the precious minister

with rounded transverse ribs with sets of four narrower

at the centre. The posts (rkang) show small carved and

ridges between them and pairs of fretted slots in the

gilded dragons’ heads at the foot of each and terminate

recesses. The main edges have applied iron borders

in carved dragons with open mouths at either side of a

attached by small rivets, cut with scalloped inner

central block at the top of the arch pierced; these have

faces, and bordered with brass scalloped bands also

a rectangular slot for the stirrup leather (lung). The

cut with scalloped edges and punched with circles in

central block and posts are silvered, and the dragons’

each scallop. The inner seam where the plates join is

heads gilded overall. The underside of the tread is plain

treated in the same way, with an iron band scalloped

and rough from the hammer.

46

the base, beyond the large pivot, which engages the stud of a sprung catch inside the lock. The serpentine is attached to a long, thin lockplate, also of shakudō, carved with pagoda-like finials at either end. Its upper edge is shaped with a series of waves around the serpentine, and it is inlaid in gold with a key-fret design around most of its edges, a dense design of birds and insects on bamboo branches along the

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A Rare Bridle and Fittings 16th – 18th century This bridle consists of a headstall and snaffle bit, the headstall made of cheek straps connected in a crown over the top of the head behind the ears, a noseband and a throatlatch. All these are formed of leather covered with woven green fabric. The bit is gilt iron, with D-rings at either side connected through pivots to the straight side bars, which are decorated with moulded bands and spatulate finials, which extend into the mouthpieces, hinged together at the centre.

These are plain iron, the rest is gilded. The bit is retained by circular fittings of gilded iron fretted with a dragon amid flames. At the centre of the nose band is a similar fitting, extended at either side in fretted lappets. Two further matching fittings join the cheek bands to the throatlatch. Joining the noseband and the cheek strap at either side are two further gilt iron fittings, fretted to match the lappets of the noseband fitting, each of three pieces, two lappets connected to a central pivot loop with trefoil finials above and below. The throatlatch and crown are each fastened by a buckle, attached to a fretted lappet ornament, with a single loop and tongue.

central panel and fronds of foliage on the terminals, each ending in a lotus bud. A separate plate, carved

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with orchid blossom around its edges, is fitted to

A Rare Vambrace (dastana)

cover the hole through which the end of the sprung

Late 17th or early 18th century

catch operates from inside the lock, and spaced away from the lock plate to allow the end of the serpentine to move freely. There are two further bulbous studs, at either end of the lock plate. The forward one also retains the pivot of the main spring, which is external and operates on the terminal hook of the serpentine.

It is of steel, carved with ruyi scrolls at the forward end, and decorated in gold inlay with foliage and insects in gold inlay. Inside the lock mechanism a sear acts on the end of the spring catch to draw it inward, to release the serpentine. This in turn is connected to the trigger bar, which is pivoted on a separate pin above the lockplate, which has a silver rosette grommet set into the stock. The visible element of the trigger is gilt copper, of triangular form fretted and carved as a ruyi fungus with flowers. The trigger is set in a shakudo plate fitted under the stock, with two large gilt studs

The main plate of a vambrace, this takes the form of a single, gutter-shaped plate shaped to the forearm and curving to a point at the elbow. The main section is embossed with chevron ribs, extending to just above the wrist, which is encircled by a plain rib. At the wrist edge is a flange. The flat areas at the wrist and around the edges are decorated in gold koftgari with a series of Qur’anic inscriptions. On the upper edge is a buckle riveted to the mainplate with triple leaf hasps, the buckle frame pierced at the apex, and decorated with foliates ornament in gold koftgari. Matching this and the buckles on the lost inner plates attached by mail at the lower edge are three strap loops. The hand was originally protected with a mail defence also. Inside the plate is the remains of the original textile lining.

which originally retained the lost trigger guard, the plate long and thin like the lockplate, with similar lobed finials, the rear one in the form of a stylised tiger’s head, the central section with complex guilloche borders and foliage, birds and insects along the centre. Just in front of the trigger a plain screw passes through the trigger plate and secures the breech strap through a threaded hole. The stock is full length, with a short, very slightly flaring butt, and an aperture at the fore-end for the ramrod, which survives and is of plain steel. There are silver fittings at the fore end of the stock, butt cap and around the breech strap. The fore end cover is decorated with further ruyi fungus on the blackened ground. The straps around the breech strap with stylised chrysanthemum blossoms, also on a blackened ground, with a circular rosette at the centre rear. The butt cap cover is of bright silver, decorated with quatrefoil rosettes on a blackened ground at

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either face. It is attached to the stock by a series of nails.

An Exceptionally Rare Matchlock Musket (song hoa mai)

The trigger guard is a modern addition.

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A Dagger (khanjar)

17th century

18th century

The barrel is of octagonal section, completely plain, bored with a touch-hole and fitted with an adjacent

The blade is double edged and double curved, with

pan with swivelling pan-cover of brass. A breech strap

a broad, shallow fuller running down the centre and a

extends back from the breech, and is engraved 282.

slightly reinforced point. At the forte is a lobed panel,

The lock is a snap matchlock mechanism, the curved

decorated with a flowering tree on a stylised hill,

serpentine of shakudō carved in the form of a stylised

surmounted by a lotus bud finial in gold koftgari. The

dragon, decorated in gold inlay with birds and insects,

hilt is made in one piece of mutton fat jade, in pistol

accompanied on the outside with sprays of foliage at

grip form, carved in low relief at the pommel and

either end. It is shaped with a long, hooked terminal at

guard with swirls of foliage.

47

scrolling fronds around a central rosette, the raised details gilded on a plain, stippled ground. The hilt is of pistol grip form, made of two plates of rhino horn anchored to the tang by three rivets, and pierced at the pommel for a sword knot, with silver grommets decorated as rosettes, a reeded silver band running round the seam. The scabbard is of wood entirely covered with silver. The main body is plain with bands

10

A Fine and Extremely Rare Pair of Repeating Flintlock Pistols Dated 1799/1800 (1214 AH)

of gilded interlinked crescents at either edge. At the throat is a gilded recess for the forward langet, and a

13

slot to accommodate the curvature if the blade at the

A Rare Bronze Cannon

back. There are two suspension mounts, each with

Dated 1857

a loose ring, decorated to match the quillons with strapwork, fronds and central rosettes. Around and between each the ground of the scabbard is incised

The barrel of each pistol is octagonal at the breech, of

and gilded with matching foliate arabesques, all on a

round section towards the muzzle, decorated in gold

slightly stippled ground. The chape is decorated with

koftgari with flowers and foliage and the inscription

the same motif and has a small lobed finial at the end.

kār Chalambrom Pansharī sanat 1214, ya hazrat ‘Abbas

The muzzle is slightly swamped with a series of mouldings, decorated with the yinyang 陰陽 symbol surmounted by a lion head (shizi, 狮子). The first astragal continues the decorative with a series of peonies. On the chase it is cast with the inscription 嗣德拾年 ‘Tự Đức tenth year (literally in Chinese Side

‘Ali (kadā). Below the barrel are two additional tubes for

‘inherit moral virtue’) within cloud scroll medallions.

powder and ball. A separate breech section is attached

At the second reinforce which is cast with trunnions

to the stock, of round section with a flange at the front,

it is decorated with the bagua 八卦 or eight trigrams

and low guard above the pan. It is extended into a

of Daoist cosmology surrounded by symbols of good

breech strap, incised Sarkar Sikandar Jah Bahadur for

omen including a bat, deer, duck and ping 瓶 vase.

its owner. The barrel mechanism rotates when released

On the first reinforce cast with the inscription 安南国,

by the lever in front of the trigger, depositing powder

Annam guo for Vietnam within cloud scroll medallions,

and ball in the breech for the next shot and cocking

bordered by friezes of dragons, swords (jian) and

the action. The lock is a plain flintlock with a gilded

phoenixes. The vent field is cast with a raised surround

pan. The stock is of wood with a plain butt, capped

to the vent, the cascabel with a button in the normal

with iron.

European style. The trunnions are crudely engraved on one 八两 四十斤, 8 liang (tael of 50g) 40 jin (catties of 600g), and on the other 八三, the gun’s arsenal number, 83.

12

A Fine Dagger (hancer) and Scabbard 19th century 11

The blade is curved and double edged, of watered

A Superb Sword (kılıç) and Scabbard

steel chiselled with a panel at the forte terminating in a

Mid-18th – early 19th century

a lotus bud from which springs a pair of fullers within

luxurious swirl of leaves in neo-rococo style, ending in raised ribs running towards the point, the bud, raised

The blade is of kılıç type, of watered steel, single

ribs and forte are decorated in gold koftgari, with

edged and deeply curved, widening to the point,

tight scrolling foliage. Within plain bands. The hilt

14

An Exceptional Sword (katana) and Mountings by Hagiya Katsuhira c. 1880

with a false edge (yelmen). The back is flat and ribbed

is of waisted form, of nephrite set with pairs of small

The blade is of shinogi zukuri form with a high shinogi

with chiselled bud at the end of the forte and at the

rubies and emeralds in gold mounts. The scabbard is

(the ridge being wider than the back), of shallow

cusp of the yelmen, which is bordered at the back

of wood entirely covered in silver with traces of gilding,

curvature and with a greatly extended point section (o

by a series of sharp fullers. The blade is decorated

chiselled with a lozenge diaper on both sides, with a

kissaki) in the style of swords from Satsuma province.

with raised cartouches with inscriptions, and a hatayi

plain medial band and a bud finial at the chape. At the

The grain (hada), is very fine resembling nashiji hada,

lobed arabesque at the forte and along the flat back

throat is a strapwork interlace of silver set with runs of

the fine granular texture of a cut pear. The hamon is

on a stippled, gilded ground. The guard is formed as a

rubies and emeralds, the front with a garland of rubies

mainly straight (suguba) with gonome ashi, lines of

cross with straight quillons terminating in acorn finials

surrounding a central sapphire, the rear with smaller

martensite running down towards the edge giving

and short langets, chiselled with reeded borders and

sapphires and a silver gilt suspension loop.

the appearance of tightly packed rounded shapes, and

48

does not extend to the kissaki. The whole blade exhibits ara nie or large crystals of martensite both along the hardened edge (yakiba) and in clouds above it. On the outer side (omote) above the habaki is a well-executed carving (horimono) of Fudo Myo-ō standing on a rock and surrounded by flames. On the ura or inner side is a stylised lotus from which springs two grooves or goma bashi. The tang is long and tapering with a single hole.

It is signed in on the omote side in cursive grass script (sōsho), read by Tomkinson Sasayuki (for Sadayuki, but possibly in fact Tadasada) of Shinobazu. The general arrangement of the inscription seems to differ from a normal sword signature, first two characters being the swordsmith’s name. In view of this and the appearance

15

A Very Fine Dagger (aikuchi tanto)

by Hagiya Katsuhira c. 1880

of the tang the blade is likely to be contemporary with the mounting. The blade is fitted with a plain wood

The blade is of high quality but unsigned, the tang

shirasaya.

being patinated and drilled with a single hole, probably made specifically for this mounting. On the principle

The hilt is bound in black cord over white rayskin

face, within a sunken panel, is a horimono or carving

(same) and is fitted with silver mounts matching

of a dragon coiled around and beginning to eat a

those on the scabbard. The fuchi, next to the tsuba,

Buddhist sword, a design known as kurikara. On the

is of silver, chiselled with a dragon amid clouds with

opposite face are two grooves of different widths. The

gold flames. Those parts on the fuchi on either face

hardened edge (yakiba) has an irregular undulating

have the decoration extended upwards onto the hilt,

outline. It is not possible to identify the smith.

necessitating the hilt binding be cut and glued to the hilt. The rounded kashira at the top of the hilt matches

The scabbard (saya) is lacquered in bright polished

the other fittings, as do the large round menuki, being

gold, a technique that involves sprinkling the wet

in silver and done as dragons and clouds. The fuchi is

lacquer with a fine dust of spherical gold particles

signed Seiryōken Hagiya Katsuhira, 生涼軒 萩谷勝平

which are then embedded with further coats of

with a written seal or kao. The tsuba, also signed Hagiya

lacquer before being revealed by rubbing down.

Katsuhira 勝平 with kao, is of oval shape and dished

Superimposed on the basic ground are cloud shapes

with the concave side towards the scabbard. On the

in raised lacquer. At the lower end of the scabbard,

upper surface are carved clouds among which is a

the kojiri is of silver, chiselled as clouds and rain with

gold dragon in high relief. The concave side is plain but

the figures of the thunder god Raijin (雷神), in copper,

shows a copper colour where it has been in contact

gold and silver, surrounded by drums. On the reverse

with the washer (seppa). On either side of the tsuba are

side of the kojiri the wind god Fujin (風神), again in

a pair of washers, one covered in gold foil, the other in

different metals, holds a large sack of wind. Higher up

black patinated shakudo.

the scabbard the kurigata, that takes a thick silk braid or sageo used to hold the dirk into the sash, takes

The scabbard is covered in black lacquer with a

the form of a writhing dragon in silver and gold. On

polished but irregular finish that in places is deeply

the reverse of the scabbard is a pocket that holds a

eroded and highlighted by flecks of gold. The long,

small utility knife or kogatana, the mouth of which is

rather pointed kojiri at the end of the scabbard is of

protected by a gold fitting, or uragane, chiselled as

silver chiselled with a dragon amid clouds in relief, the

clouds. The kogatana itself has a hilt, or kozuka, in silver

flames issuing where its legs meet the body being in

decorated with the Buddhist divinity Bishamonten (毘

gold. Writhing in and out of eroded depressions in the

沙門天) with his multibladed spear, and symbolised

scabbard is a realistic snake in silver with gold eyes.

by a miniature pagoda, defeating a demon or oni, in

In place of the usual kurigata is a large silver mount

copper, silver and gold. The fuchi that connects the

depicting a dragon in clouds, the loop for the cord

hilt (tsuka) to the scabbard is of silver chiselled with

(sageo) formed by a coil of the dragon’s body. There is a

clouds, among which is a writhing dragon in gold

narrow silver mount (koiguchi) chiselled with clouds at

being ridden by the Buddha in silver and gold with a

the mouth of the scabbard.

large gold halo. The wooden hilt is covered with same or rayskin bound with black silk that trap two menuki designed to improve the grip. The menuki, in silver, shakudo (a black patinated copper alloy) and gold are carved as Buddhist protective divinities.

At the top of the hilt, the kashira, again chiselled with clouds in silver, are depictions of the two statues normally found as guardians at the entrance to Buddhist temples called Niō (仁王) or Kongōrikishi, depicted in copper and gold.

49

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P. E. Schellinger, R. M. Salkin, International dictionary of historic places 5: Asia and Oceania, London, 1996 R. Elgood, The Arms of Greece and her Balkan neighbours in the Ottoman Period, London, 2009 R. Zeller and E. F. Rohrer, Orientalische Sammlung Henri Moser Charlottenfels, Bern, 1955 Rijksmuseum, Sawasa, Japanese export art in black and gold 1650–1800, Amsterdam, 1998 Rotunda, Official Catalogue of the Museum of Artillery in the Rotunda, Woolwich, London, 1906 S. C. Welch, India: Art and Culture 1300–1900, New York, 1985 S. G. Goodrich, Pictorial Geography of the World 1, the Old World, Boston, 1856 Sotheby’s, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Part One: Arts of the Islamic World, London, 6 April 2011 Sun Laiching, ‘Chinese-style Gunpowder Weapons in Southeast Asia, in New Perspectives on the History and Historiography of Southeast Asia ed. M. A. Aung-Thwin & K. R. Hall, London, 2011, 75–111 T. Richardson, ‘The Ming Sword’, Royal Armouries Yearbook 1, 1996, 95–99 T. Richardson, ‘The Taylor Collection of South Indian Arms in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge’, in G. Wilson (ed.)

ICOMAM Conference 2009 Proceedings, Leeds, 2012, 71–91 T. Richardson, Islamic Arms and Armour, Leeds, 2015 T. Richardson and N. Bennett ‘The East India Company Gift to the Tower in 1851’, in T. Richardson (ed.), East Meets West, Leeds, 2014, 112–138 T. Richardson & J. Ferguson, Matchlocks from the Royal Armouries, Leeds, 2012

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ESTA BLISHED 1967

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