Arabic inscriptionn on a musket

kwiatek · 20th March 2021, 02:49 PM

The inscription is of a type associated with the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Nizam 'Ali Khan Asaf Jah II (d. 1803). I have only ever seen these on Char Aina, but yours is the same style of inscription. There is a Char Aina in the Met (29.158.165a,b, published in David Alexander, Islamic Arms and Armour in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 15) with the same inscription and the date 1192/1778-9, as well as another undated Char Aina in the Khalili Collection. Runjeet Singh had one in a catalogue too

http://www.runjeetsingh.com/inventory/378/cuirass

I cannot read the numbers at the end of this, though it might be ۲۰, the number 20, for a Mughal regnal year. If that's the case, it would be the regnal year 20 of Shah 'Alam II's reign which would be 1192/1778-9. If that's the case, then the very last, worn part of the inscription might be the words سنه ۱۱۹۲ (sana 1192 'year 1192').

The first part of the inscription reads

سرکار میر نظام علیخان بهادر

'Sarkar Mir Nizam 'Ali Khan Bahadur'

20th March 2021, 02:49 PM	#2
kwiatek Member Join Date: May 2019 Posts: 156	The inscription is of a type associated with the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Nizam 'Ali Khan Asaf Jah II (d. 1803). I have only ever seen these on Char Aina, but yours is the same style of inscription. There is a Char Aina in the Met (29.158.165a,b, published in David Alexander, Islamic Arms and Armour in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 15) with the same inscription and the date 1192/1778-9, as well as another undated Char Aina in the Khalili Collection. Runjeet Singh had one in a catalogue too http://www.runjeetsingh.com/inventory/378/cuirass I cannot read the numbers at the end of this, though it might be ۲۰, the number 20, for a Mughal regnal year. If that's the case, it would be the regnal year 20 of Shah 'Alam II's reign which would be 1192/1778-9. If that's the case, then the very last, worn part of the inscription might be the words سنه ۱۱۹۲ (sana 1192 'year 1192'). The first part of the inscription reads سرکار میر نظام علیخان بهادر 'Sarkar Mir Nizam 'Ali Khan Bahadur'