Page 198 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

88

CEREMONIAL SCIMITAR OF
MEHMED n THE CONQUEROR
blade possibly late i^th century, hilt and quillons
possibly i6th century
Turkish, Ottoman
steel gold, walrus ivory, with damascening
5
3
length 126 (49 /sj; blade 106 (4i /4J
inscribed: Sultan al-ghuzah wa'1-mujahidin and sayf
Allah al-maslul li'1-jihad
references: Yucel 1988, 106, no. 87
Topkapi Sarayi Miizesi, Istanbul

The exceptionally long blade of this ceremonial
scimitar (yatagan) is grooved and encrusted
on the obverse in gold. A fine thuluth two-line
inscription offers prayers for the victory of
Mehmed the Conqueror, describing him as
"Sultan of warriors for the faith" and his weapon
as "the Sword of God unsheathed in the Jihad/'
c
His genealogy, going back to Sultan Osman, the
legendary founder of the Ottoman dynasty, is
also inscribed. The sword bears neither date nor
craftsman's signature. The hilt and quillons could
well be sixteenth-century replacements, as it
was standard practice for later sultans to refurbish
the swords of their famous ancestors. j. M. R.

87

BATTLE AXE
89
late i5th century CEREMONIAL SCIMITAR OF
Egyptian, Mamluk
iron damascened with gold HERSEKZADE AHMED
l
7
length 98.6 (}8 /s); axe head 30.5 x 20.5 (12 x 8 /s)
inscribed: (on socket) in square Kufic formulae, court workshops of Bayazid n or Selim i,
inter alia, Muhammad (four times), al-hamdu c. 1500-1517
li'llah (twice) Turkish, Ottoman
references: Munich 1910, no. 530, pi. 244 inlaid with gold, silver, and rubies
5
length 81.2 (32); blade 67.8 (26 /s)
c
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Hofjagd und inscribed: (on spine) Rustam-i asr, yare-i askar,
c
Riistkammer Iskandar-i began... Ahmed b. Hersek yan
references: Encyclopedia of Islam, 1960-,
"Hersekzade Ahmed"; Ettinghausen 1983, 208-222;
The axe bears the name and titles of the Mamluk Uzungar§ih 1986, 23-76; London 1988, no. 83;
c
Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Abu'l-Sa ada Muham- Rogers 1988, 12-17; Melbourne 1990, no. 50;
mad (r. 1495-1498), son of Qa'it Bay, and prayers Alexander and Kalus, forthcoming
for his victory in the usual late Mamluk heraldic
form (Schriftwappen). It must have been Otto- Collection Rifaat Sheik El-Ard
man booty from the arsenal at Alexandria, sacked
by Selim i (r. 1512-1520) on his conquest of Egypt The long, inward-curving blade of this ceremonial
in 1516. The square Kufic inscriptions read "Mu- scimitar (yatagan) is inlaid in gold on either side
hammad, Praise be to God/' It evidently fell into below the hilt, with a scaly dragon and phoenix
Hapsburg hands after one of the defeats of the locked in combat amid chinoiserie flowers. The
Ottoman armies by central European powers in monsters, forged separately and secured by pins to
the late seventeenth century. The shaft and the the blade, are depicted differently on each side.
surface of the blade are richly ornamented with The teeth of the dragon are silver and the eyes of
arabesques in gold. The shaft is partly faceted and the animals are set with tiny rubies. The monsters
partly fluted to give a better grip; however, the and the foliage are gilded. The scimitar embodies
weapon may well have had a ceremonial rather a variety of virtuoso techniques, possibly requir-
than a practical purpose. j. M. R. ing the separate skills of a swordsmith (kihgci),

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 197