antique arms, armour & militaria - Thomas Del Mar

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53
A VERY FINE AND RARE TURKISH GOLD, ENAMELLED
AND GEM-SET DAGGER WITH LAPIS LAZULI HILT, EARLY
18TH CENTURY
with tapering single-edged blade of watered steel,
decorated on one side with a gold-encrusted scroll and a
spray of tulip flowers, gold ferrule (incomplete), faceted hilt
of gold-flecked lapis lazuli (one small chip at the base),
rising to a beaked pommel set with a ruby in a raised floral
gold setting, in its original gold scabbard, the inner face
enamelled in polychrome with a vertical arrangement of
conventional flowers with sprays of foliage highlighted with
green enamelled leaves (the enamel with small losses), all
against a finely punched matted ground, the outer face
decorated with a large panel top and bottom filled with
floral patterns formed of raised gold settings and twenty
four and twenty six rubies respectively, all enriched with
black and white enamel and each with a single diamond,
the middle portion with a further flower formed of six
diamonds centring on a ruby surrounded by enamelled
polychrome flowers and foliage against a finely punched
ground en suite with the inner face, the chape set with a
single emerald, the back-edge of the scabbard with a
running pattern of enamelled green foliage (losses), the
inner face with characteristic locket and retaining its
original plaited silver wire suspension cord with fluted
bulbous finial
17.5cm; 6Pin
The floral mount for the pommel stone and the outer face
of the scabbard are closely related to another gold,
enamelled and gem-set dagger of earlier form, taken as
part of the booty gathered by the Margraves of Baden-
Baden and Baden-Durlach now preserved in the Badisches
Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe. See E. Petrasch, R. Sänger, E.
Zimmermann and H. G. Majer 1991, p. 197, no. 143.
Lapis Lazuli is most commonly found in the valley of
Kokcha, a tributary of the Oxus, south of Firgamu in
Afghanistan. It was visited by Marco Polo in 1271 and has
been prized both before and since that date for its rich blue
colour characteristically flecked with gold specks of pyrite.
£25000-35000