Kulah Khud
Full Description:
The steel bowl of this Qajar helmet (or kulah khud) is adorned throughout with winding vine tendrils and stylized flowerheads in gold. At its apex the helmet is fitted with a gently sloping plaque which leads upwards to a faceted conical spike and is secured to the bowl with small rivets.
Two plume holders are fitted symmetrically to the front of the helmet, a central nasal bar of rectangular section at their centre terminating at both ends in a lobed panel decorated with gold patterning en suite with the helmet’s bowl. The lower edge is then lined with a scroll of Islamic calligraphy, below which the helmet’s brim has been pierced with a sequence of small holes to hold a camail of multiple tails in various shapes and sizes. Many of the camail’s rings are brass, creating a pleasing pattern of equidistant diamonds on an iron-black ground.