Dagger with gryphon head guillon terminals

[cornelistromp]

analmost similar gryphon dagger from the weapon museum in brussels.
early 15th century inv h/519/VI8

[Pukka Bundook]

Jasper,

That is a lovely example shown in the last photos, and has to be very closely related to yours.
I am wondering if these are not wolf heads though, as I can see ears laid back against the neck....(I think!)
I will save these pictures. Thank you for posting them.

One of the first things that came to mind when I saw this post, was;
"I wonder if through travel, the Arabs came in contact with this style of quillon?...as it seems more than a little similar to the Pulwar/Pulouar"

Best,
Richard.

[cornelistromp]

two pics more, excavated gryphon from the met the other Rijksmuseum brussels

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Jasper for posting this! These stylized zoomorphic quillon terminals really do present an interesting case for influence and symbolic styling diffusion. These downturned quillons with such terminals do indeed seem to reflect similarities in a sense to the Nasrid hilt forms as well as to the makara/dragonheads of Ottoman and Indian subcontinent.

Great examples you have posted and good to see this thread back up

[cornelistromp]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Thank you Jasper for posting this! These stylized zoomorphic quillon terminals really do present an interesting case for influence and symbolic styling diffusion. These downturned quillons with such terminals do indeed seem to reflect similarities in a sense to the Nasrid hilt forms as well as to the makara/dragonheads of Ottoman and Indian subcontinent.

Great examples you have posted and good to see this thread back up

Hi Jim,

Always very nice to hear from you.

Indeed, these terminals come in different cultures on daggers, usually of later period than the dagger under discussion (1425). A beautiful example from the same period is a parry block made ​​of jade from Uzbekistan.
This beautiful piece is in the permanent collection of the METMUSEUM.
inv. nr 02.18.765

best,
Jasper

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Jasper, and for adding this beautiful cross guard. You are right, these Islamic forms do tend to be far later than the 15th century as you note, and one of the compelling questions always present in the study of ethnographic weapons is what sources, particularly European, influenced them. When seen together comparatively as you have well shown, the dimension of the question becomes even more profoundly intriguing!

[cornelistromp]

Hi Jim,

thanks and yes very true, who was previously the chicken or the egg?

the excavated dagger has a brass plate engraved with Gothic text on the left-hand side of the grip

I have not figured out what the meaning is.

best,