A MUGHAL GEM-SET JADE TALWAR HILT, NORTH INDIA, 18TH CENTURY

Of elegant and classic baluster form with a broad cross guard, elongated forte, disc pommel, and knop terminal, all exquisitely decorated with a gold, ruby and tourmaline inlaid design of flowering plants and vines. The translucent stone is of an even pale celadon tone.

Provenance: From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York. Alan Hartman (1930-2023) was an influential American art dealer, who took over his parents’ antique business in Manhattan and established the legendary Rare Art Gallery on Madison Avenue, with further locations in Dallas and Palm Beach. His wife Simone (née Horowitz) already served as assistant manager of the New York gallery before the couple married in 1975, and together they built a renowned collection for over half a century and became noted art patrons, enriching the collections of important museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (which opened the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in 2013) as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York. Alan Hartman has been described as the greatest antiques dealer of our generation, and was widely recognized as a world authority in Chinese jade, bronzes, and Asian works of art.
Condition: Condition commensurate with age, showing expected old wear and traces of use, small bruises with associated fissures to the pommel, expected minor losses to inlays. Some gemstones have been reattached, others were lost and subsequently replaced, sometimes with different gemstones or glass cabochons. The gold inlays show some losses, old repairs and replacements of gold thread. Remnants of adhesive.

Weight: 264 g (excl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 16.5 cm (excl. stand)

With a fitted velvet stand. (2)

The courts of northern India practiced elaborate gifting practices in which finely decorated and jeweled swords and daggers were bestowed on those who had earned favor. This is extensively recorded in the biographies of the Mughal emperors and depicted in their illustrations, notably those of the Padshahnama. See a 17^th-century miniature of Jahangir wearing a sword with a hilt of similar form in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number IS.162-1955.

Did you know?
Similar decoration of gold and ruby inlay can be seen on many attractive Mughal jade pieces that were presented as tribute or collected by the Qianlong Emperor, such as the dish with floral sprays in a similar style to that on the present lot, included in the Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1983, illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. 39. See also a box and cover sold at Christie’s London, 4 November 2010, lot 245.

Literature comparison:
Talwars in carved jade are very rare. One example is the closely related jade hilt to an 18^th-century sword that bears an apocryphal signature of Asad Allah and an inscription that claims that it was once the personal sword of Tipu Sultan, in the Wallace Collection, inventory number OA1402.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s, London, 24 October 2007, lot 247
Price: GBP 66,500 or approx. EUR 152,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
Description: A mughal gem-set jade tulwar hilt, India, late 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, and decoration. While the comparable piece is set with multiple types of gems, the current lot, with its array of rubies, is equally aesthetically pleasing, and the jade itself boasts a slightly more attractive hue.

#expert video