Maker: Unknown
The steel blade is straight, double edged with a full-length medial rib and a reinforced point. The hilt has a convex guard attached to short, wide arms ending in lotus bud terminals at the rear, joined by a pair of bars swelling to their centres that form the grip. At the front of the guard are heavy katar-shaped reinforces with cusped and scalloped edges and incised lines, attached to the blade by three rivets, one with copper alloy washers corroding actively. The guard is extended on the outside of the hand into a V-section curved guard ending in an animal-headed finial. The hilt is painted black inside, the rest polished bright and pitted from earlier corrosion
History note: Ganjam. Probably from the Tanjore armoury, broken up in 1860 (see documentation Elgood 2004)
Given by Robert Taylor, MA
Blade Length: 56.5 cm
Overall Length: 68.8 cm
Weight: 570 g
Method of acquisition: Given (1879) by Taylor, Robert, MA
17th Century#
Circa
1600
CE
-
1700
CE
Described by taylor as ‘Very long guarded kuthar from Ganjam’.
This type of sword is very different to most swords as the grip is at right angles to the blade, and not a continuation of the blade. It was held in the hand and used a thrusting fashion. The blade is very tapered and ends in a long, thin point, ideal for stabbing attack. The back of the hand is protected by an additional plate. This example is very short and may have been made for a child.
Blade composed of steel
Accession number: O.91-1879
Primary reference Number: 158406
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Dagger" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/158406 Accessed: 2024-11-22 18:10:52
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/158406
|title=Dagger
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 18:10:52|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-158406
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