Interesting wootz tulwar for comments

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

Very nice blade! The wootz has good activity, color and contrast and in my opinion is of Persian manufacture. The block ricasso you see at the forte are "cheeks" used to reinforce the tang root and the blade. If you look through the Figiel catalogue, you will notice a lot of blades done in this fashion but typically it seems to happen a lot with nice wootz blades that were probably imported and the tang had to be adjusted to fit the tulwar hilting so these cheeks were added to give stability. The U-turn feature is found primarily on Persian and Indian blades and also some Chinese blades. It is not uncommon for this feature to be on one side only. That is actual the more typical configuration. You have a quality Persian blade with very nice wootz probably late 18th to early 19th century with tulwar hilt. A nice find!

Rick,

Sorry to throw this question back to you directly, but you have far more experience of diverse wootz than anyone I can think of.
I can now see that this blade is typical of persian wootz, but I'm still curious as to if the pattern is simply due to the methods of manufacture or if it is deliberate?
If it had hitches it would be 'ladder' pattern, but is this basic but rather beautiful pattern genuinely meant to represent flowing water? A novice like me often hears wootz refered to as 'watering' and this, with its flow and irregular swirls feels like the surface ripples of a flowing river.
Sorry, I'm rambling. Simply put, does standard persian wootz have a deliberate pattern, with a symbolic meaning, or is it random?

Many Thanks
Gene