A GOLD- AND GEM-SET JADE ‘RAM’S HEAD’ MUGHAL DAGGER HILT, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

India. Well carved in form of a ram with curled horns, its mouth ajar bearing teeth, The body inlaid in the Kundan technique with gold wire enclosing rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. The translucent stone is of a grayish-white tone with small brown specks, few pale russet veins, and cloudy inclusions.

Provenance: From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York. An old label from the Hartman’s inscribed with Alan Hartman’s dating for the present lot, ‘Mogul c. 1750’, is attached by a string to the base. 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: Very good condition with minor wear, tiny nicks, some of the gold wires and gem inlays either reattached or replaced.

Weight: 275.9 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 10.3 cm (excl. stand), 11.7 cm (incl. stand)

Mounted on an associated wood and metal stand, coated in red velvet, which was added by the Hartman’s. (2)

Mughal princes, nobles, and high officials were honored regularly by the Emperor with daggers, knives, and swords, which were worn as symbols of the wearer’s status. The present hilt would have formed part of an impressive dagger, indicating the high rank and esteem of its original owner.

The earliest reference to a zoomorphic hilt in Mughal art appears in a painting of Jamal Khan Qarawul by Murad, in the Shah Jahan album and dated circa 1610-15, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 55.121.10.29, published in Stuart Cary Welch et al, The Emperors' Album. Images of Mughal India, New York, 1987, pp. 132-33, no. 26). Welch suggests that it is only therefore after the reign of Shah Jahan that the trend for zoomorphic hilts proliferated (Stuart Cary Welch, India. Art and Culture 1300-1900, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, p. 258). Bashir Mohamed writes that the tradition of hilts of jade, rock crystal, or ivory in the form of rams, deer, lions, or stallions is a testimony to a former pastoral existence (The Arts of the Muslim Knight. The Furusiyya Art Foundation Collection, Milan, 2007, p.142).

Kundan is a technique by which precious stones are set into hyper-purified gold refined into strips of malleable foil which develop an adhesive quality at room temperature. On the present example the diamonds are flat-cut to highlight their reflection, and the emeralds carved to bring out their color.

Literature comparison:
The form of a ram's head is less frequently encountered than many animals, and this is a well observed and finely carved example. Compare a related earlier Mughal embellished jade dagger hilt in the shape of a ram’s head, dated 17th century, 11.4 cm high, in the Seattle Art Museum, accession number 44.40. Compare a related gold-inlaid and ruby-set jade dagger hilt with a carved ram’s head, dated “probably” 19^th century, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number 696-1874. Compare a dagger with a related gold-inlaid and ruby-set jade hilt carved with a ram’s head, dated 1526-1858, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, object number 南購玉000004N000000000.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 27 April 2012, lot 567
Price: GBP 10,000 or approx. EUR 19,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A mutton fat jade-hilted dagger, Mughal India, 18^th century
Expert remark: Compare the related form, manner of carving, and Kundan inlay. Note the different subject and the blade.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 5 October 2010, lot 356
Price: GBP 103,250 or approx. EUR 213,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine jade-hilted ram’s-headed dagger (khanjar), Mughal India, mid 17^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and similar manner of carving. Note the different color of the stone and the blade.