Dagger with the handle in the shape of a lion's head

Object Details

• School/Tradition

  Mughal school

• Description

  The dagger is long and slender, with a handle that ends in the shape of a lion's head. Gold inlay decoration was used to decorate the handle and the back of the blade. A fine water pattern covers the sides of the blade.

• Label

  In the seventeenth century, daggers with animal-headed hilts were among the most popular and fashionable accoutrements worn by members of Mughal nobility and the ruling elite. Most often adorned with heads of horses, but also sheep, goats, and camels, such daggers were suspended from a man's belt or tucked into it. Although regarded primarily as ceremonial weapons, their sharper blades suggest that they could also serve as functional and deadly works of art.

  This particular dagger is notable for its expressive leonine head, which was first cast and then tooled to give the surface its subtle modulation. The fangs, whiskers, as well as the overall musculature of the head have been articulated and accentuated with gold inlay, lending the animal a ferocious and naturalistic expression. In contrast to the carefully articulated head, the lion's mane has been skillfully abstracted into a mass of wavy gold lines that form gently swaying, stylized rose bushes.

• Provenance

  To 1998

  John Lawrence Fine Arts, London, acquired from an unidentified European vendor, to 1998 [1]

  From 1998

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from John Lawrence Fine Arts in 1998

  Notes:

  [1] John Lawrence Fine Arts acquired the object from a European vendor; the object had arrived in England sometime in the early part of the 20th century (according to Curatorial Note 2, Massumeh Farhad, February 4, 1998, in the object record.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Body Image (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)

• Previous custodian or owner

  John Lawrence Fine Arts, Inc. (active mid-1980s-1990s)

• Origin

  India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Weapon and Armament

• On View

  Freer Gallery 01: Body Image: Arts of the Indian Subcontinent

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1650s

• Name

  John Lawrence Fine Arts, Inc.

• Place

  India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Cats, Art, Inlay (process), Animals, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858)

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Weapons, Armor (protective wear)

• On View

  Yes