Dhal with repair

[colin henshaw]

I'm not sure from exactly where in India this dhal shield originated, but it looks old, and the metal repair seems of some fair age as well.

I've seen very similar repairs to the edges of Beja hide shields from the Sudan.

[blue lander]

Thanks. It arrived a couple days ago and the repair does look pretty old. There's a smaller cut right next to it that I guess wasn't large enough to be worth repairing. I wonder how effective these hide shields were at blocking a sword blow. They must have been effective enough since people used them.

Any thoughts on what kind of hide this might be? The black outer layer is chipping and peeling off in many places revealing a yellowish layer below.

[spiral]

The outer layer is some form of tar,pitch or paint,

The leather could be rhino, elephant, sambar or other lesser deer or buffalo but as painted , treated etc is probably lesser deer or buffalo.

Ive seen such repairs before & believe yours to be period & ethnographic...

Spiral