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Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde
Alex, interesting examples you show, but does the book give any explanation of what the decoration represent, what kind of flowers are shown an so on?
Hers is another one, I don't know what kind of leaf it is, but it could be a palm leave. In Figiels auction catalogue there is a tolwar with a hilt decoration like this one.
Jens
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Jens, unfortunately the books on arms do not provide the same level of details and references as books on other areas of Islamic/Indian Arts. More material can be found in books on architecture, textile, tiles, etc. and much information can be drawn from them and applied to arms decoration. Let me venture one example:
Attached image is of Indian, 18th Century carved sandstone column base with stylised and overlapping
acanthus leaves.
The shoulder is decorated with large
lotus petals. Their simple and generous proportions contrasting with the intricacy of the acanthus leaves below. The column base is surmounted by an eight-petalled floral
dais.
The carving in yellow sandstone and the design of this column base are characteristic of the
Rajasthani city of Jaisalmer, a city of mystic beauty enclosed within the walls of an exterior fortress with ninety-nine projecting bastions. Built by Jaisal in the twelfth century, it includes a palace and various groups of residences, all characterised by balconies, windows and entrances carved so exquisitely as to form a true jewel of
Rajput craftsmanship.
References:
1. Bianca Maria Alfieri, Islamic Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2000, p. 286 and the photograph on p. 284 in which Alfieri illustrates the balconies, windows and carved decoration characteristic of the style of Jaisalmer with its many contrasting tiers carved with a multiplicity of designs as seen on this column base.