AN EXTREMELY RARE SILVER MOUNTED TURKISH PUSIKAN OR

AN EXTREMELY RARE SILVER MOUNTED TURKISH PUSIKAN OR GENERAL'S BATON OF RANK, c.1700, 51cm long over all, polished oval hard stone 8cm head with silver cap at top, wooden haft covered in its original dark blue velvet, with embossed silver 10.5cm silver bands at top and bottom and 1.5cm flat silver band in centre, silver suspension ring at base of haft. See 'Die Turckische Cammer', by Holger Schuckelt, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Sandstein Verlag, 2010, page 281, figures 262 and 263, for two examples of Turkish pusikans captured by the armies of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, 1697-1733, one having a silver and gilt covered head, and the other, 263, silver mounted and having a rock crystal head. The rock crystal example is now recorded as Inv.-Nr.T.53 in the Staatlicher Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and having been in the Saxon Royal Jagerkammer from 1717, as item Nr.416.