A rare Ghaznavid gold-inlaid steel dagger
Persia, 11th/ 12th Century
the single-edged watered steel blade of straight form with flattened spine, engraved and decorated in gold inlay with two lines of inscriptions and a bird with elongated foliate tail, faceted horn hilt secured with four iron rivets with brass surrounds, the wood scabbard clad in leather
24.3 cm. long
Footnotes:
Provenance
The Mohammed Khalil Collection.

Published
M. K. Ibrahim, Islamic Arms and Armour, Vol. I, United Arab Emirates, 2022, p. 238, cat. no. 35.

Inscriptions: along the upper edge of the blade, al-'izz wa al-iqbal wa al-da[wla?] wa al-da[wla?], 'Glory and prosperity and wealth(?) and wealth(?)'; at the base of the blade, 'amal-i muhammad, 'The work of Muhammad'.

For a Ghaznavid blade of comparable form with silver and gold inlay see Bashir Mohamed, The Arts of the Muslim Knight, the Furusiyya Art Foundation Collection, 2007, p. 148, no. 140. Another, with birds on the blade, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Accession Number 2005.382).
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R This lot is subject to import restrictions when shipped to the United States.