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A slightly curved blade with a jade handle that has been carved into a flower at the base of the blade and the end. The blade is dark grey and the handle is off-white and grey.

A slightly curved blade with a jade handle shown horizontally on a grey background.The blade is slim and curved down in the middle with the end pointing straight out to the left. The handle is short and curves downward. The handle has been carved into a wide flower at the base of the blade and an iris-like flower at the end. The blade is dark grey with the handle is off-white and grey at the end.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1999.305
Title
Dagger with Jade Hilt in the Form of an Iris
Classification
Weapons and Ammunition
Work Type
dagger
Date
c.1650
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India
Period
Mughal period
Culture
Mughal
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/190501

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2590, South Asian Art, South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watered steel, jade
Dimensions
35 x 3.5 cm (13 3/4 x 1 3/8 in.)
max. with jade handle: 35 x 8.7 x 2 cm (13 3/4 x 3 7/16 x 13/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Contoonook, NH, (by 1999), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1999.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Stuart Cary Welch, Jr.
Accession Year
1999
Object Number
1999.305
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
The hilt, made of jade, features a pommel carved in the form of an iris. The base of the hilt is carved with acanthus leaves. The blade, made of watered steel, is slightly recurved. A fuller runs down the middle, from the base of the blade, to about three-quarters of the way towards the point.

Exhibition History

  • A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 06/08/2000 - 09/03/2000
  • The Way I Remember Them: Paintings by Nusra Latif Qureshi, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, 02/20/2004 - 04/25/2004
  • Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/2006 - 03/23/2008
  • Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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