A RARE SOUTH INDIAN DAGGER (CHILANUM) Lot n° 24

A RARE SOUTH INDIAN DAGGER (CHILANUM), 15TH/16TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY BIJAPUR, with broad recurved blade formed with a pair of fullers and swelling slightly at the tip, iron hilt comprising shaped foliate langets enclosing the forte and extending to each side with a pierced bird~s head, curved guard rising up in the centre and with a short bud-shaped quillon on each side, recurved slender knuckle-guard with Yali head terminal, integral moulded grip following the contour of the guard at the base, rising up in two branches including a rampant lion with Yali head forming the pommel on one side (pitted, small restorations and losses), 39.5 cm overall¦¦Roy Elvis Catalogue Number D85. ¦¦Hilts of this distinctive zoomorphic form are associated with Royal Vijayanagara edged weapons. Around 1620 King Raghunatha Nayaka (circa 1600-34) sent a ~dagger with a lion handle~ as a gift to the Danish Court in Copenhagen. Another dagger from this group is preserved in the David Collection, Copenhagen, (inv. no. 18/1982). See Elgood 2004, pp. 109-126. ¦ ¦Highlight from the Roy Elvis Collection (1944-2022)¦