Page 175 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

ghalib ila'lldh. The lower one is broken at the moreover, may suggest that the sword was 57'
sides in the usual way, ghd:lib, by medallions designed not for a ruler but possibly for presen-
filled with a palmette or fleur-de-lis in opaque tation to an emir, or even a neighboring Christian NASRID SHIELD (ADARGA)
turquoise and black enamel on a translucent green prince. However, if it was indeed made for before 1492
enamel ground. The down-turned quillons are Boabdil, the style, in accordance with such cere- Granada
spewed from the mouths of dragons or felines, monial weapons, would have been becomingly hide, silk embroidery
worked in relief and with chasing. Below their conservative. J.M.R. 9° 75 (35 /s x 292/2]
3
x
jaws on each side are small tonguelike panels, now references: Boeheim 1888, 279; Boeheim 1890, 18};
rather damaged, of opaque white and translucent Madrid 1898,161; Nickel 1958, 98; Buttin 1960,
red enamel, possibly suggesting a forked tongue. 407, 447; Bruhn de Hoffmeyer 1982, 279;
The flattened obverse and reverse bear enameled Encyclopedia of Islam 1986, "Lamt," 651-652; Feest
medallions: on the obverse is a shield of European 1990, 7
type with a diagonal bar from left to right bear- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Hofjagd-und
ing wa Id ghd in naskhi; on the reverse is a trans- Riistkammer
verse bar with the usual continuation ild'lldh BM
in Kufic. The inscriptions are in opaque white
enamel on a decayed black enamel ground; the
ground of the bar is of scrolling arabesque in sil-
ver, with traces of gilding filled with translucent
green enamel. The rest of the surface bears fine
filigree and granulated ornament.
The sheath of the scabbard is of wood covered
with dark brown leather heavily sewn with metal
thread; the obverse has longitudinal naskhi
inscription cartouches with variants of the
inscriptions on the hilt, and three transverse bars.
The cartouches are separated by knotted, winglike
split palmettes enclosing a quatrefoil, with con-
fronted palmettes on a plain ground. The reverse
of the sheath is stitched down the center with
rather more elaborate palmettes and small knots
at each end.
The mounts are gold and silver-gilt, solid or
cast. Worked in champleve relief, they carry
rather perfunctory chasing with considerable sur-
face ornamentation in granulation and filigree,
the latter mostly fine spiral scrolls. The granula-
tion on the central, upper, and hilt mounts forms
stylized Kufic Idm-alifs. The enameled plaques, in
the form of European shield blazons or transverse
bars, are cloisonne with cloisons of fine foliate
scrollwork showing traces of gilding. On the
obverse mount at the tip, which ends in a small
flattened knob, are three plaques and a transverse
bar between two shields, the latter with a diagonal
bar sloping from left to right bearing naskhi
inscriptions. The reverse bears similar inscription
plaques.
The Schriftwappen of the Nasrid rulers of Gra-
nada was well known to the Spanish rulers of the
Reconquest, and its appearance on the sheath and
the enamel plaques is not therefore a guarantee of
Nasrid workmanship or even of a Nasrid date.
However, the break at ghd'.lib seems to have been
standard Nasrid practice, so that it does not count
against the sword's alleged provenance. Although
the confused stitched inscription cartouche on the
sheath certainly testifies to inept copying of an
original, it could also have been the work of a
well-meaning but not particularly literate Grana-
dan craftsman. On internal grounds the sword
appears to be late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-
century. The absence of an owner's inscription,

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