Subject: ahadi 'single' heavy cavalryman
Culture: Mughal-Rajput
Setting: Great Mughal empire, Hindustan/Deccan late 16th-early 18thc
Object: khanjar dagger
* Shah Jahan Armoury
* National Museum of Scotland > Royal Museum
* Freer & Sackler Galleries > Freer Gallery of Art
"Dagger India, Mughal dynasty, late 17th century
Mughal courtiers wore splendid ceremonial daggers embellished with gems and precious metals. Fashioned from the finest watered steel, their blades were, when need arose, lethally sharp. Those made in the imperial workshops were given and coveted as signs of royal favor. The smoothly rounded hilt, with cusps for its wearer's fingers, is made from nephrite, a particularly hard and difficult-to-work jade found in Central Asian riverbeds. Its lustrous surface is adorned with a pattern of ruby and emerald flowers set within pure gold."
*
