A RARE EARLY MUGHAL HELMET INDIA, LATE 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY
Details
A RARE EARLY MUGHAL HELMET
INDIA, LATE 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY
The domed skull with a riveted steel band, the exterior plain, with four-sided steel point on eight-sided bulbous finial, with mount for nose guard, the aventail of fine riveted mail with small number of replacement links
9in. (20cm.) high excl. mail; 33 5/8in. (85.5cm.) high incl. mail
Literature:
Howard Ricketts and Philippe Missilier, Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris, 1988, no.143 Howard Ricketts and David Sulzberger, Islamic Military Heritage, Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991, p.48, no. 270
Exhibited:
Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris, 1988 Islamic Military Heritage, Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991
Lot Essay:
Surviving Mughal helmets are rare, with only a handful of examples scattered across the world's museum collections. Here the form deviates from the shallow dome form associated with later Indian helmets, presenting an intermediate stage between them and earlier Turkmen and Timurid helmets. A helmet of comparable form and overlaid with qur'anic verses, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36.25.127), is attributed to the 17th century Deccan. The absence of rich decorations on the present helmet and its excellent condition make its survival all the more remarkable.
Details
A RARE EARLY MUGHAL HELMET
INDIA, LATE 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY
The domed skull with a riveted steel band, the exterior plain, with four-sided steel point on eight-sided bulbous finial, with mount for nose guard, the aventail of fine riveted mail with small number of replacement links
9in. (20cm.) high excl. mail; 33 5/8in. (85.5cm.) high incl. mail
Literature:
Howard Ricketts and Philippe Missilier, Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris, 1988, no.143 Howard Ricketts and David Sulzberger, Islamic Military Heritage, Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991, p.48, no. 270
Exhibited:
Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris, 1988 Islamic Military Heritage, Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991
Lot Essay:
Surviving Mughal helmets are rare, with only a handful of examples scattered across the world's museum collections. Here the form deviates from the shallow dome form associated with later Indian helmets, presenting an intermediate stage between them and earlier Turkmen and Timurid helmets. A helmet of comparable form and overlaid with qur'anic verses, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36.25.127), is attributed to the 17th century Deccan. The absence of rich decorations on the present helmet and its excellent condition make its survival all the more remarkable.
