Yemeni/Omani Sword

ham · 11th May 2005, 04:51 AM

Gentlemen,

These are very rare swords indeed but they are not Omani, nor for that matter are they from anywhere in Arabia. They are from the Emirate of Bukhara in Central Asia, as a brief comparison of the repeating engraved motifs on any of the examples of bronze and silverwork from that region pictured in A SONG IN METAL, Abdullayev et al, will show. The few examples I have seen were datable to the early 19th century. There is a fine sword of this type in the Moser Collection, now part of the Berne Historical Museum in Switzerland but it (and all the rest) were taken off display a couple of years ago for some reason. There is another in the V & A pictured in Coe's SWORD AND HILT WEAPONS p. 141; it is included with a group of other swords and unhelpfully described, "Turkish and Persian weapons of the 16th-19th century" or something similar. Jarnuszkiewicz's excellent work SZABLA WSCHODNIA I JEJ TYPU NARODOWE shows the origin of this form on plate 11, a 9th century Samanid king from a fresco at Nisapur carries one extremely similar. Perhaps Pan Michal de Wolviex can post this?
Given the conservative nature of Central Asian groups-- both nomadic and sedentary-- it is not unusual that the form survived so long. One doubts nonetheless that they were ever very common; swords in Central Asia in general, except for that unpleasant late 19th century variety of Afghan saber that so clumsily sought to duplicate the fine lines of the Caucasian shashka, were relatively rare and then usually limited to Persian shamshirs, or the equally rare Bukharan sidearm which looks like an attenuated peshqabz, see Elgood ed., ISLAMIC ARMS AND ARMOUR, FLINDT, for examples.
These swords are quite rare. Congratulations on such fine acquisitions.

Sincerely,

Ham

11th May 2005, 04:51 AM	#6
ham Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 190	Gentlemen, These are very rare swords indeed but they are not Omani, nor for that matter are they from anywhere in Arabia. They are from the Emirate of Bukhara in Central Asia, as a brief comparison of the repeating engraved motifs on any of the examples of bronze and silverwork from that region pictured in A SONG IN METAL, Abdullayev et al, will show. The few examples I have seen were datable to the early 19th century. There is a fine sword of this type in the Moser Collection, now part of the Berne Historical Museum in Switzerland but it (and all the rest) were taken off display a couple of years ago for some reason. There is another in the V & A pictured in Coe's SWORD AND HILT WEAPONS p. 141; it is included with a group of other swords and unhelpfully described, "Turkish and Persian weapons of the 16th-19th century" or something similar. Jarnuszkiewicz's excellent work SZABLA WSCHODNIA I JEJ TYPU NARODOWE shows the origin of this form on plate 11, a 9th century Samanid king from a fresco at Nisapur carries one extremely similar. Perhaps Pan Michal de Wolviex can post this? Given the conservative nature of Central Asian groups-- both nomadic and sedentary-- it is not unusual that the form survived so long. One doubts nonetheless that they were ever very common; swords in Central Asia in general, except for that unpleasant late 19th century variety of Afghan saber that so clumsily sought to duplicate the fine lines of the Caucasian shashka, were relatively rare and then usually limited to Persian shamshirs, or the equally rare Bukharan sidearm which looks like an attenuated peshqabz, see Elgood ed., ISLAMIC ARMS AND ARMOUR, FLINDT, for examples. These swords are quite rare. Congratulations on such fine acquisitions. Sincerely, Ham