Islamic Arms and Armour Edited by Robert Elgood London Scolar Press 1979Fin published 1979by Scolar Pres,go/gr Great Russ Stet Book design by Alan Bartram Leadon wern se Prod in Geet Bata by Sek Pes Blescay Lt ‘Scola Pres an Impein of Bemrose UK Li ‘ioral mater and maps © Robert good 1979 slam Arms and Armor. Arms od rma ake [egood: Raber s2xaon7'6r1 C80 A sce examination fap carton ont do sds Wien PBauee 1979, Parse amr rine LP. BvellSaton 1979 Some intencenary ams from Burd Torben W. Find 1979 (rial the Near and Mle East fromthe eth he feet centres tr shown in work of art vane 1379 sexo 85967 470.3 ‘gro of aan daggers he per fom He onc the Being of the event, wh Person serine tS vane 1979, Archery he ans of Ester sha 1 Detatham and W- Paterson 1979, ‘The Chaba Kham o Youur! bow fia 1 award McEwen 9979, ctr, oer or gba Ato cemtay ll en Easter eae (© AS Meldien-Chirvan 1979 ‘The aor of Tari Deri (ALS Mebkian-Chireani 1979, he tla foe A'S Mein: Chevanl 1979 rain sors the sven contr wt Russian nitions calle of the Stat Hemiape Musca fe vase 1979 A Mamta {© Metroptan Museum of Ar 1973. 2979 an nyotucton ars and warfarin clase Isom ©'b. Neale 1979 ust warfare: stay of iva Musi reat onthe ae of war © Tanum 1979 Meier Arab arms AR Zaky 1979 sane weapons Pash clltions nd thr provera 0% Pynuls fe 1979 Aprons CAS Melton Chirvant 1979)Robert Elgood Wilhelm P. Bauer L, P, Ehwell-Sutton Torben W. Flindt ‘Michael V. Gorelik A, Ivanov J.D. Latham and W. Paterson Baward McEwen A. S. Melikian-Chirvant S. Melikian-Chirvani A. S. Melikian-Chirvani Y. A, Miller D. Nicolle G.Tantum ALR. Zaky Z. dygulski Jr A. S. Melikian-Chirvant Contents Preface vii Maps x A scientific examination of the applied decoration on two Indian swords 1 Persian armour inscriptions § Some nineteenth-century arms from Bukhara 20 Oriental armour of the Near and Middle East from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries as shown in works of art 30 A group of Iranian daggers of the period from the fifteenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth, with Persian inscriptions 64 Archery in the lands of Eastern Islam 78 The Chahar Kham or ‘four-curved' bow of India 89 Bucklers. covers or cymbals? A twelfth-century riddle from Eastern Iran 97 ‘The tabar of a Turkish Dervish 112 ‘The tabarzins of Loff‘all 116 Iranian swords of the seventeenth century with Russian i the collection of the State Hermitage Museum 136 ccriptions in A Mamlik axe 149 An introduction to arms and warfare in classical Islam 162 Muslim warfare: a study ofa medieval Muslim treatise on the art of war 187 Medieval Arab arms 202 Islamic weapons in Polish collections and their provenance 213 Appendix 239 Bibliography 242 Index 246Prefacevill ISLAMIC ARMS AND ARMOUR ‘The last thirty years have seen a great intensification of research, into the history of the arms and armour of Europe. North America and Japan, but the same cannot be said of the study of Near and Middle Eastern weaponry. Historians from the Islamic countries have, with a few notable exceptions, published litle of value on this subject, while western Islamicsts have generally bbeen deterred by the many dilficulties to be encountered in research, The student of Islamic arms enters a feld where most of the original research still remains to be done. Furthermore he ‘will have few of the tools of research which are taken for granted {in other areas of historical enquiry. Literary and archival sources remain largely unexplored, while inscriptions found on coins and ‘buildings provide limited information In the absence of written information, and because examples ‘of medieval Islamic weaponry are t00 few to form a basis for assessment, arms historians have been forced to base much of, ‘their work on iconographic material, particularly miniature paintings. The popular belief that Islam as a religion probibits the depiction ofthe human form is manifestly false and such restrictions as did exist appear to have been applied (with exceptions) to religious buildings. Islam was not a hermetically, sealed world but rather stood at the crossroads between the diverse cultures of Asia, India, Africa and Burope. Given the multiplicity of trading routes, the arms and armour of one external source might enter the Islamic world at widely divergent points making i dificult even with the aid of local schools of painting to account for the ebb and flow of stylistic innovation, Besides the sheer sie ofthe area to be considered, It should be remembered that Islam was rarely a united political unit. More ‘often it consisted of a succession of power bases varying in size from cities to emplees. rom the sixteenth century onwards the number of surviving ‘examples of Islamic arms increases but the problem ofa scarcity of contemporary documentation of these arms remains. There is ‘no Islamic equivalent to Japanese sword literature, Consequently the problems facing anyone wishing to study Islamic arms are not the same as those encountered in a study of European arms. ‘As the British nineteenth-century pioneer researcher and author Lord Egerton writing in 1896 explained: “If had tried to arrange the collection [of Indian and Persian weapons] on an. historical basis, a is usually done in the case of European arms, 1 should have had great dficulty in determining the date of the specimens. For not only do we find in India the rudest and most civilised races living sie by side, but from the stationary character of Indian art, the changes produced during the period of several centuries may be less strongly marked than those cllected during a few generations in Europe.’ Much information ‘remains to be found in the literature of the period, but as a ‘comprehensive survey requires fluency in Arabic, Persian and ‘Turkish the number of scholars qualified to undertake such a task is limited and thelr talents are generally occupied elsewhere. Indeed, Islamic arms and armour have in the past been eclipsed by the other products of Islamic art. Islamic carpets in particular have always been sought after. In the early sixteenth century Cardinal Wolsey was reputed to have had the largest collection, in Europe. Another renaissance figure, the Florentine Benvenuto Cellini, records n his dlary a description of some Turkish daggers. The comments of a man qualified both as a craftsman ‘and as an arms enthusiast are particularly interesting as isthe Information that he made copies ofthese daggers ‘with improvements’, “Most accounts of Islamic arms were written by professional soldiers who were more concerned with tacties than with detailed descriptions of arms. Such men often adapted Islamic blades to western hilts or in the eighteenth century. recognizing the excellence of Islamic swords, adopted these in preference to the swords oftheir own country. Sir John Moore, the vietor of Coruta, is portrayed wearing a fine kilidj, acquired in Egypt where he served In 1801, The Duke of Wellington owned three shamshirs bearing the signature of Asad Allah Ifakani, which he presumably acquired in India. His influence was responsible for the adoption in 1831 of the Mameluke-hilted sabre for General officers of the British Army: this weapon was clearly derived from the Persian shamshir and the Turkish kil) and paid tribute to the elegance and effectiveness of those weapons. Indeed itis "unreasonable to suppose that Islamic society would not have demanded the same high level of practical and aesthetic qualities {in thelr arms and armour, of themselves highly personal accoutrements, as they obtained in other areas of the applied arts, It is therefore all the more surprising that arms and armour have for so long been neglected in studies of Islamic metalwork. ‘The late Eenst Kuhnel, a distinguished Orientalist, wrote in 1963 in his Islamic Art that: “The importance of weapons in the artistic activity of the Near East is very widely known, and if ts importance were tobe given corresponding treatment (in this book}, it should have a large chapter to itsell.On the other hand itis less the lovers of Islamic art than collectors of weapons who will be prepared to give these objects close attention, and the latter will ind better and more thorough instruction in the spectalist literature than can be given here.” A glance at those bibliographies dealing with oriental arms and armour will sulfice to show that most published work has appeared in learned ‘academic journals which are only to be found in a few specialist bears, ‘The purpose of this Anthology is therefore threefold. Firstly. it fs to be hoped that it wil focus the attention of Orientalists on a ‘much neglected area of Islamic art, thereby leading to further research and debate. Ideally this will Involve scholars from the Near and Middle Bast since real progress will only be made when the interest ofthe people of the Near and Middle Bast is aroused, Itis sad, but true, that at the moment it is easier to see and study Islamle weaponry in the USSR, Europe or America than itis in ‘many of the Islamic countries, Secondly, that arms and armour will henceforth be considered ‘as an integral part of any survey or collection of Islamic metalwork. Finally, that the readers of this book will acquire atleast some of the interest and enjoyment that have gone into the articles hich comprise this Anthology. would like to thank all the authors for thetr kindness andhelp in the preparation ofthis, their work, especially De A. Melikian-Chirvani. I would also like to thank Mr Claude Blair and Mr Anthony North of the Metalwork Department of the Vietoria and Albert Museum for the interest and encouragement they hhave given to the project. ‘Thanks are also due to MrN. Calder, Mr M. Gilbert, Mr Edsal Hale and Mrs V, Dixon: to Mrs G, Leonard, Miss M. Dodd and Miss J. Sargent who typed the manuscripts: to Mr M, Bailey and his colleagues of Scolar Press to the staff ofthe School of Oriental and Aftican Studies: and to all the institutions, libraries, ‘museums and educational establishments which have provided Information or photographs. Ronee Etcoon Editor ‘Transliteration In order to provide a useful index for this volume it was decided to impose upon all articles a uniform system of transliterato Reconciling the demands of Atabie and Persian pronunciation proved a dificult and at times contentious task: inevitably the compromise arrived at is not fre from imperfections or even eccentricites. It s nonetheless hoped thatthe system here used will provide forthe non-specialist some indication of correct pronunciation, while indicating to the specialist the precise form ofthe original word, For Arabic words the system is basically that ofthe yelopedia of Islam with the usual modifications ofq for & and J for dj further where two letters indicate one sound ~as kt to Indicate the sound of chin Scottish loch ~no ligature has been used. For Persian, all letters pronounced as sor = are thus indicated, with the addition of various diacriticals to indicate for the specialist the original letter. For technical terms and place names which may be thought to hhave become part of the English language no diacrticals have been usedMAMLUK EMPIRE c.1400 A.D. —— OTTOMAN EMPIRE c.1600A.D. ———— SAFAVID EMPIRE c.1512 A.D.oR BLACK SEA ——— akin nay! SHIRVAN, avgen, i “KURDISTAN ye ‘SoroTaMiA >) NS, KHURASAN, TRANSOXANIA i i ' \ \ \ \ \ \ I /———— 7504.0, FRONTIERS —— 1210.0. FRONTIERS i NI)A scientific examination of the applied decoration on two Indian swords Wilhelm P. Bauer2 ISLAMIC ARMS AND ARMOUR. ‘Two Indian swords were recently subjected to microscopic ‘examination by the author atthe restoration and research laboratories of the Museum fir Vélkerkunde, Vienna, The purpose ofthis study was to consider the technique adopted by the craftsman for applying fine gold and silver wire, which constitutes the decoration, to the metal surface of the swords. ‘The swords being examined were of the khanda type. This definition may not at first sight seem very illuminating as the ‘word is taken from early Indian terminology and means a ‘sword’. However, modern usage has come to identify the word with a particular form of blade; straight, broadening towards the tip, terminating in a rounded or wide angled point (1). Lord Egerton, the well known authority on Indian arms, wrote that the khanda isthe national sword of Orissa (a state on the eastern tora), Two methods of applying gold or silver to iron or steel were commonly practised by Indian craftsmen. The fist of these ~ Inlay ~was the cutting of a channel inthe host surface, into which the gold or sllver was hammered. The second technique is known by its Indian name ~ kifegari~ in which the host metal, ‘was cross-hatched (2) with a pointed instrument, creating a rough surface which held the softer metal wire when the latter ‘was hammered in the desired position. An inferior technique consisted of burnishing gold fll tothe cross-hatched surface. An ‘examination of the two swords under the microscope shows very Clearly that the technique used is kiftgat (3, 4). The following technical details can be established: 1 The hammered wire mostly stands proud of the surface. 2 The roughening ofthe surface is formed by a multitude of close parallel grooves. When two sets of grooves intersect they form a ‘network of small shombolds. Since the Intersections are not normally at right-angles, there are hardly any square or rectangular shapes. In some of the surface areas a third group of ‘grooves has been introduced to increase the roughening. The edges ofthe roughened areas are interesting. Whereas in the central areas ofthese parts the various groups of grooves appear tobe parallel, the edges clearly show (2) that infact the seemingly parallel grooves run together at an acute angle. This points to the method by which these grooves were made: @ ‘number of parallel grooves were drawn simultaneously by @ comb-like tool Then the next group of grooves was drawn without interruption from the ends of the first, so that the position ofthe comb needed only a slight alteration of angle before being drawn back, and so on over the whole surface. 43 The anchoring of the wire, which is hammered on to the grooves, is relatively good despite the shallowness of the grooves: ‘a number of places can be seen where the protruding wire has been worn off (3). The cause appears to be mechanical. the friction of daily usage, though signs of erosion are also visible. However. in both these cases, traces of wire remain attached to the grooves and judging by this evidence, gold would appear to hhave better qualities of adhesion than silver. 1 The two Indian khan. (Museum fir Vlkerkunde, Vienna) Photograph by Frits Mandl‘TWO INDIAN SWORDS 3, 2 The blade under magnification showing the crisscross trations called 4 The same cartouche under greater magnification showing the ‘crosshatching’. (Museum fir Volkerkunde, Vienna) Photograph by Fritz hammered wire adhering tothe rosshatching. (Museum fr Mandl. ‘Volkerkunde, Vienna) Photograph hy Fritr Mandl 3 The cartouche on the larger ofthe two khandas, (Museum fr ‘Volkerkunde, Vienna) Photograph by Fritz Mandl4 ISLAMIC ARMS ANP ARMOUR 5 The elephant from the tp ofthe smaller kana. (Museum fir ‘Volkerkunde, Vienna) Photograph by Fritz Mandl 4 Especially noteworthy isthe fact that on these examples tne applied wire is so securely attached to its ground that at the ‘vulnerable ends there is hardly a place where it has worked loose or been detached. One can conclude from the lengths used that the Indian craftsman was very well aware of the durable quality of the work done using this method. For example. he dared to hammer on many short pieces of wire in building up the bodies of the animals (5). He did not regard himself as obliged to reduce the number of vulnerable end pieces tothe smallest number possible by using the longest possible pleces of wire. 5 The hammered-on wires do cross (5) but very seldom. Yet one thas the impression that this was avoided more for stylistic than {or technical reasons. In contrast to the crossed lines. simple overlapping is quite common, However, such T- or Y-shaped joins do not have the same security from a technical point of, view as the X-shaped intersections. ‘The two swords were also subjected to laser-emission spectral analytical examination, using an ita 1 (Jenoptik Jena), which showed in the silver inlay a predominantly pure silver (no alloy) and in the gold inlay a small amount of silver (~ 5% Ag).Persian armour inscriptions L. P. Elwell-Sutton LP, Elwell Sutton began to study oriental languages at the School of Oriental Studies, London University. in 1931. and after taking an honours degree in Arabic worked for the Anglo- Iranian Oil Company in Iran for three years. Later he served in the British Broadcasting Corporation's Eastern Services and the British Embassy in Tehran, before going to Edinburgh University In 1952 as head of the Department of Persian, where he now is, Professor. He has paid many visits to Iran, and written numerous books and articles on the literature, religion and philosophy, dialectology and folklore, and contemporary history of Iran,6 ISLAMIC ARMS AND ARMOUR. ‘An integral part of the decoration of much Islamic armour is some form of inscription. Hitherto, however, it does not seem ‘that much attention has been paid tothe content of these. The purpose ofthis paper is, therefore, to examine the inscriptions on ‘asmall number of selected pieces of Persian armour. preserved in the Royal Scottish Museum, in Edinburgh. Most accounts in ‘catalogues and reference works are obliged to be content with, some generalization, at times inaccurate, Even such standard accounts as Hans Stécklein’s ‘Arms and Armour" in the Survey of Persian Art! and H. Russell Robinson's Oriental Armour® have to be included in this criticism, For instance, both works. describing, a piece in the Royal Scottish Museum (811), state that it caries “inscriptions from the Stra of Victory from the Que"an. Infact. although there are two Qur'anic verses, neither comes from either of the Siras whose titles might be so translated (al-Fath [XLVIIL, or al-Nasr CX) (though these are not uncommon on other pleces), while the bulk ofthe inscriptions come from non- Quranic sources. A more puzzling case is the attribution by ‘Stécklein (following the Belgian cataloguer! ofthe date 1700 AD. to. helmet preserved in the Musée Porte de Hal in Brussels, though the published photograph (assuming itis the correct fone), shows that the piece bears the name of Fath-‘all Shah who reigned 1797-1834 AD. Also subject to revision is Russell Robinson's statement that a helmet in the British Museum dated {6a Chahar-@ineh ~ breastplate (Royal Scotish Museum) 1035/1625~1626 is ‘enriched with verses from Sa'd’s Bustan in praise of Shah ‘Abbas’; Sa’di lived in the thirteenth century AD while Shak ‘Abbas was not born until the sixteenth century AD. "The objects described on the following pages provide a great variety of inscriptions with interesting bearings on Sufism, Islami chivalry and even folklore. Unfortunately, any in- vestigation is hampered by the absence. or inaccessibility. of source material. In spite ofthe fact that the practice of inseribing pious or talismanic phrases on armour and weapons must be of considerable antiquity, few specimens have survived from the early Islamic period. As far as Persia is concerned, extant pieces