A Qajar Turquoise and Gem-Set Gold Kinjal and Scabbard

#18343: A Qajar Turquoise and Gem-Set Gold Kinjal and Scabbard
Persian, dated AH 1309 (1891–92)
Height 53cm, width 6.5cm, depth 3cm

This Persian kinjal carries the name of Nasir al-Din Shah on its blade and is fitted with a scabbard mounted in gold and set with turquoises, rubies and diamonds.
The straight, double-edged blade is of watered steel, its dark surface showing the swirling grain of the metal along its full length. A single fuller runs just off the centre line. Near the hilt, two leaf-shaped cartouches flank the fuller. Each is outlined in gold overlay, filled with nasta'liq script and set on a small trumpet-shaped foot beneath a stem rising to a three-lobed flower head. The inscriptions include the name of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and a date read as AH 1309 (1891–92); a further inscription remains undeciphered. A smaller cartouche and trefoil in gold sit towards the point, where the gold is partly worn.
The grip is formed of two scales of walrus ivory stained a mottled reddish brown. It is shaped with a pointed, arched pommel and widens into a squared base where it meets the blade. Two rivets with domed gold heads within rope-twist collars fix the scales. Between them, the edges of the tang carry a narrow band of scrolling vine in gold overlay.
The scabbard is of wood covered in black leather, with a gold locket and chape. On the front, both mounts are densely set with cabochon turquoises in raised collets, arranged in rows radiating from a central line of diamonds, with further diamonds along the edges. The locket ends in a scalloped border with a pendant trefoil, and the chape tapers from a matching trefoil finial to the tip. A band set with rubies and diamonds around a larger oval stone divides the locket, with a suspension loop at one side, and a row of square-cut rubies lines the mouth.
On the reverse, the mounts are worked in deep repoussé with gul-o-bulbul decoration, the Persian "rose and nightingale" motif of birds among roses and flowering stems. The chape on this face is centred by a large rosette. The leather on the reverse has worn away along the centre, exposing the wooden core.
Straight, double-edged daggers of this form, known as kinjal or qama, are most closely associated with the Caucasus, where Kubachi and Tbilisi were long-established centres of arms-making, although examples were also made in Iran and Central Asia. Here the Caucasian form is paired with the close-set turquoise work found in Persian and Central Asian goldsmithing. Nasir al-Din Shah ruled Iran from 1848 until his assassination in 1896, and his name appears on other arms of the period, among them examples in the Wallace Collection, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Its presence on this blade suggests the dagger was made within his domain. Combining the work of the bladesmith, the ivory carver and the goldsmith, it reflects the place of jewelled arms in 19th-century court dress, where they served as marks of rank as much as weapons.
$67,500