Gold Jambiya
Full Description:
This dazzling jambiya has been lavishly applied throughout with mounts of gold. The surface of the typically ‘I-shaped’ hilt is filled completely with a dense array of decorative motifs. At the pommel, trios of small gold kites converge on a central green stone amidst beaded lines – a schema repeated in slightly elongated form at the other flared end of the hilt.
A curved steel blade of the expected form is fitted to the hilt and has been cut with a pronounced medial ridge along its full length. The scabbard is decorated mostly en suite with the hilt. The first panel nearest to the hilt comprises concentric squares whose borders are made from various patterns: tightly oscillating waves of gilt wire alternate with rows of small lobed arches. This approach is mostly repeated just before the scabbard’s chape, though in place of a coloured stone the centre is applied with a four-petalled flowerhead set within a diamond-shaped frame.
The central section of the scabbard is fitted with a series of rings bound together by woven gilt wire, so that the dagger could be attached to a belt for suspension at the wearer’s waist.