A VERY RARE SOUTH INDIAN SWORD Lot n° 8

A VERY RARE SOUTH INDIAN SWORD, LATE 15TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY MADURAI, with broad slightly curved double-edged blade of flattened-diamond section at the tip (slightly bent in profile), formed with a central ridge dividing two long fullers on each face, widening at the base, formed with a crescentic opening applied with silver on one side and set with a silver foliate washer on the other, iron hilt retained by iron nails over silver washers (expert restorations including the upper portion of the back of the grip and the back of the pommel), comprising long slender langets extending over the forte, lobated guard including a stylised parrots head terminals, swelling integral grip, three-bud pommel en suite with the guard and rising in the centre to a compressed spherical button, 57.2 cm blade¦¦Roy Elvis Catalogue Number C109.¦¦A sword with a similar pommel, symbolising the trimurti (Brama, Vishnu and Maheswara), is illustrated on a sculpture in the Rama Temple, Kumbakonam, built circa 1610. See Elgood 2004, p. 122, figs 11.18 and 11.19. For other examples of this rare form see Hales 2013, p. 71, nos. 154 and 155. ¦¦Highlight from the Roy Elvis Collection (1944-2022)¦