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Arts of the Islamic World
Sale: L09721 | Location: London
Auction Dates: Session 1: Wed, 01 Apr 09 10:30 AM
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LOT 153
A FINE MAMLUK STEEL SWORD, EGYPT OR SYRIA,
13TH-15TH CENTURY
60,000—70,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium:
121,250 GBP
MEASUREMENTS
note 95cm.
DESCRIPTION
the straight double-edged watered steel blade,
the hexagonal hilt with rounded pommel,
diamond-shaped reserve in the centre fixed with a
wrist strap ring and pierced quillon tips
CATALOGUE NOTE
The early swords of the Islamic period were
straight and double sided and very few of these
swords still survive. Some swords, two belonging
to the Prophet, and others said to belong to the
early Caliphs and Companions, taken as booty from
the Mamluks by the Ottomans after the battle of
1517, survive in the Has Oda of the Topkapi Saray
and are known as the 'Blessed Swords' or Suyuf al
Mubarake.
In the Askeri Museum (See Yucel 2001, pl.80-83),
we find similar examples to our sword with
resembling mounts and blades and although they
are identified as Mamluk and dated to the
fourteenth century, they must have derived from
the Ayyubid style of the Saif Badawi or the
'Bedouin Sword'.
Other swords belonging to the Mamluk,
and early Ottoman Emirs and Sultans are dispersed
between the Topkapi Saray and the Askeri Museum
in Istanbul, including one belonging to Najm al
Din Ayyub, the father of Saladin, the conqueror
of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. This sword of
the twelfth century made by Salim bin Ali for
Najm al Din, has a quillon, whose socket and
guard is akin to that of our sword (ibid, p.77,
pl.34). A more closely related quillon can be
found on a blade with Abbasid or Umayyad
provenance (ibid, p.76, pl.33). For two other
examples of resembling pommels and quillons found
on fourteenth-century blades and identified as
Mamluk see Mohamed 2007, p.112, nos.11-12.
The
early Mamluk sultans were Turks from the Kipchak
territories and generally preferred the use
of the sabre, a slightly curved slashing weapon,
more suitable for mounting warfare than the Saif
Badawi. There is evidence that Mamluks carried
and used both types; however the Saif Badawi was
reserved to be used for investiture and
enthronment ceremonies of the Emir in honour of
The Prophet, who had several straight named
blades (See Elgood 1979, p.203).
This Arab tradition of the Saif Badawi was
continued in Saudi Arabia, Zanzibar and Oman
until the nineteenth century. An Omani example is
included in this sale as lot 151 (see also
Mohamed 2007, p.79, cat.43). |
