Lot 142. A Mughal carved marine ivory-hilted dagger with ram's head, 17th century; 49.5cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 GBP. Lot sold 20,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

the walrus ivory hilt carved in the form of a ram's head with finely carved details, including horns and hair-locks, the double-edged steel blade with reinforced tip and double fullers with median ridge, Indian armoury mark with number punched on both sides at forte.

Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 12 April 1976, lot 48

Note: The expressively naturalist rendering of the anatomical features, the discrete finger grips on the handle and the simple and elegant scrolled quillons, all point to a date in the first half of the seventeenth century. Depictions of the ram are not uncommon in Mughal art and feature in both miniature paintings and decorative objects. A related ram's head hilt, carved in jade rather than ivory, from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, is to be found in Los Angeles County Museum of Art (inv. no. M.76.2.12), see Verma, S.P. (ed.), Flora and Fauna in Mughal Art, Marg, vol.50 No.3, March 1999, p.32, fig.8).

Sotheby's. The Sven Gahlin Collection, London, 06 october 2015