Inventory

Bandook or Toredor

Full Description:

This characteristically slender Sikh matchlock gun was made in the golden days of the Sikh empire, which in its entirety, only remained autonomous between 1799 and 1849. The wooden stock is almost completely encased with panels of animal bone and then decorated with a beaded or eyed motif. It is a design that is often found in Afghanistan, and perhaps that is where the inspiration for this piece comes from. After all, the first Maharaja of the Sikh empire, Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), invaded Afghanistan on March 1823 and captured the city of Peshawar in 1834. The circular design, which resembles a round eye shape, may be significant. It echoes the evil eye symbol (nazar) that is common to the area.¹ A nazar adornment is believed to protect the wearer or owner from evil. In the Sikh faith, it is more pertinent, due to the circle representing the oneness of God and the unbroken cycle of life and death.

The brass side plates, which are secured by rivets on rosette washers, have a lovely rich patina, and its brass belt loops and barrel bands have been preserved. The entire surface of the steel barrel with its moulded flared muzzle is decorated with silver koftgari in an interlacing arrangement of stylised flower heads. The fore-end has exposed and varnished timber. A decorative bone inlay between the fore-end and the barrel has been replaced where it was missing.

This gun is categorised as a matchlock due to the trigger mechanism which activates the serpentine, or match-holder, which in turn lowers a lit match towards the pan. In this example, it still retains the original decorated pan cover. A small amount of gunpowder in the pan then comes into contact with the lit match and creates a flash, hence the well-known term ‘a flash in a pan’. The consequence of this is a small explosion in the loaded breech that releases the musket ball.

A Sikh musket of this type is in the Royal Armouries Leeds and is recorded to have been acquired by the East India Company following the end of the Anglo Sikh wars in 1849.²

Provenance

Tushingham Hall, Cheshire, England

References