Inventory

Zafar Takieh

Full Description:

An unusual Indian object known as a zafar takieh or throne of victory. The handle is made from jade and finely carved with raised leaves and buds, while a ruby is set into gold at its center. The handle’s bow shape would have provided a convenient resting point for the owner’s hand during a darbar or other official event. The blade is of Indonesian manufacture and follows the general form of the iconic kris dagger. Such a blade would have been a foreign curiosity to Indian rulers, and probably reached India through trade routes with South East Asia. This slender, serpentine blade has a strong etched feather pattern known as parmor and the waves along the edge, the luk, represent the crucial elements of life brought together through forging to create a weapon that has a living quality to it. The blade is painted with the old inventory number, ‘D83’.

A comparable composite of a kris blade and Indian dagger-hilt can be viewed in Arms and Armoury of the Mysore Palace[1]. A jade zafar takieh in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acc.no. 36.25.734) also has the blade of another culture, this time from Solingen in Germany[2].