A nice kaskara

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by Iain

Hi Colin, yes that's exactly what I'm getting at. Accounts like the following from 1932 in Khartum (The Mahdi of Allah: A Drama of the Sudan) make it seem like weapons done up to appeal to tourists were common.

Finally, as I do not understand any language at all, the Parsee winks at me mysteriously and produces a bundle - one that can speak for itself! In this bundle there are weapons - spears, barbaric clubs and shields, daggers that instead of sheaths are stuck into small dead crocodiles, so that the hilt protrudes from the jaws; and, above all, swords of an unmistakable form. The leather sheaths end in curious rhomboid-shaped points; the hilts in the form of a cross are studded with silver; the blade, when you draw it, is straight and broad, not a Saracen scimitar, but more like a Crusader's sword.

These weapons, too, might be faked. And, indeed, they are. Weapons like these are being offered to tourists in the mysteriously beautiful bazaar lanes of Assuan as Dervish trophies from the Sudanese battlefields.

The Indian curio dealer is standing in front of me on the lawn with a great naked sword in his hand; the gold embroidery on his little cap is sparkling in the sun and he is shouting at me words which - no matter in what strange language of the Sahibs I may happen to think - here in the Sudan I am bound to understand:
"Dervish, Sahib! El Mahdi, Sahib!"
"The sword, la espada, Sahi, Mynheer, of the Mahdi!"

Blair Castle has a great collection, but it is all quite workmanlike and there are no croc or fancy weapons on display.

Most of the Thuluth and croc pieces I've seen in museum collections like Pitts river have ascension dates from the 1920s or later. Although some thuluth peices are of course certainly Mahdist period and reached museum collections at the end of the 19th and very early 20th century like the piece linked below.

http://objects.prm.ox.ac.uk/pages/PRMUID47776.html

A good and informative post by Iain, which advances the subject quite a bit. Nice to see firm references.

Also illustrates the importance of provenance with regard to artworks/antiquities.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

A good and informative post by Iain, which advances the subject quite a bit. Nice to see firm references.

Also illustrates the importance of provenance with regard to artworks/antiquities.

Thanks Colin, when we have sources I think its important to make use of them. Luckily there was a lot of travel to the region and occasionally valuable tidbits like that quote emerge.

I am still trying to find some dated example of the wood and mother of pearl work but no luck so far.

[Richard G]

A very similar type of decoration, inlaid nacre chips, some crudely, some better, is often found on furniture described as 'Damascus'. Apropos discussions elsewhere on the forum, this may describe a type rather than an origin, but is nevertheless middle-eastern, and is definitely found in Egypt and the Hejaz.
Regards
Richard

[Oliver Pinchot]

Are there any inscriptions on the reverse?
What is shown in the photo is inscribed as Iain noted above:

Nasr min Allah! (Victory from God.) This appears twice, however the remainder of the phrase,
wu fath qarib! (and conquest nigh) is lacking.

The large central cartouche is more interesting.
It reads at the top: Mash'Allah! (God's blessing)
And at the bottom: La ullah (No god-- the beginning of the Muslim profession of faith, There is no god but Allah, no prophet but Muhammad)
Finally, there are three digits, 121 or 131 which convey the date 1210 (1795/96) or 1310 (1892/93.) Given the competent but clumsy character of the calligraphy and inlay work, I suspect the latter is correct.

[CNK1]

Thank's to everyone for your help, I gratefully appreciate the time you take to search, share your knowledge

So to my personal culture, this sword date from the end of 1800's and was "manufactured" for a high ranking person (tribal chief ).

I'm really happy to see that so many people are interested by this sword

Thank's,
Clement