A curved, black blade with an ivory handle. The blade has gold curved decoration and the handle has carved details of Arabic script and the figure of a standing man.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A curved, black blade with an ivory handle that stands with the blade pointing down to the left. The background is faded white. The blade is double-sided and has gold curved decoration on the center-end closer to the handle. The handle has carved details of Arabic script and the figure of a standing man in the center. The man is dressed in a long skirt and holds long, thin objects in his hands. The negative space in the ivory is colored warm brown.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1958.131.A-B
People
Signed by Muhammad Hadi, Persian
Title
Dagger with Sheath
Classification
Weapons and Ammunition
Work Type
dagger
Date
c. 1800
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Kirman
Period
Qajar period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216044

Physical Descriptions

Medium
dagger: watered steel with gold inlay and ivory hilt; wooden scabbard covered in leather
Dimensions
35 x 5.2 cm (13 3/4 x 2 1/16 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund
Accession Year
1958
Object Number
1958.131.A-B
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The blade of this dagger, which has a very fine watered steel pattern, was made in 1800-01, around 30 years before the hilt. The inscription on the hilt says that it was made in Kirman to the order of Hassan Khan, known as Agha Khan-i Beglarbegi. One side has his portrait, while the other side has a portrait of the Qajar ruler Muhammad Shah (ruled 1834-48), wearing a dagger very similar to this one tucked into his belt.

Hassan Khan was named as Agha Khan, the leader of the Nizari Ismaili sect of Shi'ite Islam, by Muhammad Shah's predecessor and grandfather, Fath Ali Shah. In 1838, he led a revolt against Muhammad Shah in Kirman, and was eventually defeated and exiled to India. So the hilt of this dagger, which the Agha Khan had commissioned specifically to show his close relationship with and loyalty to the Shah (Beglarbegi is the name of Muhammad Shah's maternal grandfather), must have been made before the1838 revolt.
Notes from the Glory and Prosperity exhibition, Feb - June 2002.

Publication History

  • Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, University of Tennessee Press (Austin, TX, 1979), page 158-159/figure 66
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), pp.84/ fig.89
  • Rahim Habibeh, Inscription As Art In the World of Islam - Unity In Diversity, exh. cat., Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY, 1996), page 34/figure 3

Exhibition History

  • Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, Asia House, 01/11/1979 - 03/11/1979; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 04/17/1979 - 05/27/1979; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 06/28/1979 - 08/12/1979; Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 09/14/1979 - 10/28/1979
  • Birds, Beasts and Calligraphies, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/11/1981 - 09/29/1981

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu