Dagger Blade, Etched with Arabesques and Arabic

Gallery Text

The works in this case were produced during the reigns of two dynasties that forged empires in the Iranian region: the Timurids (1370–1506) and the Safavids (1501–1722). The Central Asian warlord Timur concentrated in his capital city of Samarkand artists gathered from a vast empire stretching from Syria to India. Timur’s descendants ruled over a greatly reduced realm—parts of Iran and Afghanistan—but gained renown as patrons of the arts. The Timurid system of organizing artists into workshops in which designs were developed for the book arts and for dissemination into other media was emulated by later dynasties, notably the Safavids and Ottomans. Arising in northwestern Iran, the Safavids united all of greater Iran under their rule and established Shiʿi Islam as the state religion, as distinct from the Sunni branch practiced in the surrounding states.

Cultural exchange and industrial competition increased in these centuries, both across and beyond Islamic lands. Responding to the courts’ avid consumption of Chinese blue-and-white wares, Persian potters appropriated Chinese shapes, compositions, and motifs in their own works. In contrast, the colorful dish with scale patterns probably reflects the highly successful products of the Ottoman kilns to the west, in Iznik.

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 2011.523
Title: Dagger Blade, Etched with Arabesques and Arabic
Classification: Weapons and Ammunition
Work Type: dagger
Date: 17th century
Places: Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan
Period: Safavid period
Culture: Persian
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/188224

Location

Location: Level 2, Room 2550, Art from Islamic Lands, The Middle East and North Africa

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Physical Descriptions

Medium

Steel

Dimensions

25.5 cm (10 1/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

inscription: Blade inscribed with a verse from the Quran: “And what is my prosperity save through God?” (Quran 11:88).
A name or a nisba appears close to the handle “bandah shah wilayat Husayn sultan”.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Warner, New Hampshire (by 1999-2008), by inheritance; to Edith I. Welch, Warner, New Hampshire (2008-2011), gift; to Harvard Art Museums 2011.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch
Accession Year: 2011
Object Number: 2011.523
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions: The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description: This dagger blade is etched with an intricate vegetal scroll motif and inscribed in Arabic with a verse from the Qur'an: “And what is my prosperity save through God?” (Qur'an 11:88). Furthermore, a name or a nisba appears close to the handle “Shah Wilayat the slave (follower) of Husayn Sultan” (bandah shah wilayat Husayn sultan), and may be linked to the Safavid ruler Shah Sultan-Husayn (r. 1694-1722). Similar inscriptions appear on earlier Safavid seals (see Encyclopedia of Islam “khatam”).

Exhibition History

Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be 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

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2011.523: Dagger Blade, Etched with Arabesques and Arabic