Persian or Ottoman Lance ?

[ariel]

Originally Posted by DavidFriedman

Hi, thanks Ariel.

The lance in the picture looks very similar in form to a Persian Qajar lance I used to own. Thinner blade and less diamondesque in cross section profile than this current one I have. The Qajar ones I find have the thin blades, reinforced edge, and smaller ball section between collar and blade.

My one has a solid ball that could act as a small mace it’s so hefty, even though small.

It could well be Mughal, but the one in the picture you show, I am convinced is a Qajar lance, possibly used by Sufi’s, or at least I saw an old photo of a Sufi carrying a similar styled one in your picture.

If I’m wrong, I’m definitely open to correction. Thanks.

Cheers,

David

David,
By the 17-18 centuries Mughal armourers produced items identical in quality to the Persian ones. Moreover, there was a strong Sufi minority among the Mughal court and intellectuals. Thus the quality of the execution and religious bents cannot help very much.
I found the old Artzi's site and here are several examples of N. Indian lances from his archives + the Met example. As you see, there are major differences between all of them due to different workshops/masters.
You now have 3 opinions: Mahratt's ( Persia" and Artzi's/Met's ( N. India).
You can choose either. That's the frequent name of the game in our hobby:-)

[mahratt]

Sorry... Am I the only one who sees the obvious differences between David's spear head and the spear heads from the Artzi website and the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Is it fair to compare them?