Persian Spear Head
Hello Pieje,
Your spear head is a so-called "Sinan" (not to bre confused with "Sipar", the Persian metall shield!) from Persia. I guess, it is from the late 18th or early 19th century. The material could be Jauhar. Characteristic is itss elegant shape, the decoratevely shaped root of the blade and the missing of a median ridge, in contrary to certain Indian spears. The chisseled snake can be often found on Persian arms, for example on Qama-blades. In my collection there is a Persian spear head from the times of shah Abbas the Great. It has two blades which are decorated with chisseled fishes. Between head and body there are two very fine engraved lines. That means that the fishes are dead. Therefore it was no problem to depict them (think of the prohibition to depict any creature in Islamic art), especially in times of the ultra religious shah Abbas.
Kind regards,
Ronald
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