Possible date attribution for Persian shield

[Jim McDougall]

Outstanding observations Rand! and a great approach in the understanding of fine Islamic pieces. What you have pointed out is extremely helpful in trying to estimate period and regional affinities by comparison of motif with provenanced material culture and art from associated regions.

Going further, it is fascinating to discover the symbolism often imbued beyond the decorative motif. It seems that often certain botanicals carry key symbolism that may represent not only religious but sometimes traditional or political themes. There is always more to art than meets the eye, as seen popularly in the book and movie, "The DaVinci Code", and while somewhat fanciful and embellished, this illustrates the concept quite well. Even in the artwork in certain temples, some of the themes are believed to carry concealed messages recognizable only to those well versed in the deep esoterica associated with the culture there.

I think one of the best references that discusses this approach in the study of the art in weaponry is "Hindu Arms and Ritual" by Robert Elgood. Though most of the references well known discussing Islamic weapons are typically great for understanding typology, it has seemed to me that they often do not go deeply enough into this concept in understanding the symbolism. While this reference is obviously on Hindu arms, the concept itself is beautifully described by Dr. Elgood.

Thank you for sharing the beautiful example, and the great observations!

All the best,
Jim

[rand]

Hey Jim,

The floral motifs used in an arms decoration have always held an interest to me. It may be that just as States in the USA all have state flowers the same analogy may hold to different regions in the world in times past. For example the Tulip to Turkey and the Rose to the Caucasus, the intrinsic power of that iconic image is likely under valued.

Elgood is certainly in my minds eye the premiere current author on Islamic arms because of his thorough research and use of multi references to explain his reason for time period and origen. He has made a few mistakes in earlier volumes, the door boss's that were throrized as bucklers in "Islamic Arms and Armor" is one I am sure he would like to be able to rewrite. But it just show that a book is in reality an authors theory and it needs to hold up to criticism over time to really become valid. All to often we see something published with little thought or thorough research.


rand

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Rand,
Beautiful shield, but then you know that, or you would not have bought it.
Interesting what you write about the floral decoration, as I have been working on the subject for years, and am of the same opinion that you are.
It is, however a hard and stony way to walk, although there, now and again, are pieces of information to be found, often when looking at textiles.
Jens

[rand]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

Hi Rand,
Beautiful shield, but then you know that, or you would not have bought it.
Interesting what you write about the floral decoration, as I have been working on the subject for years, and am of the same opinion that you are.
It is, however a hard and stony way to walk, although there, now and again, are pieces of information to be found, often when looking at textiles.
Jens

Hi Jens,

Would be very interested in your opinion of what any of the flowers in this shield are and also if you think of a region that may suggest.


rand

[rand]

This photo show a section of the calligraphy on the perimeter of this shield. What interests me is the unusual fish scale like incised decoration around the writing inside the cartouche.

rand

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Rand,

Sorry for the late response. It is always difficult to recognise flowers cut in steel, first it can have been difficult for the artist to show the flower in its correct form, and second we must consider the possibility of artistic freedom, which could change the look of the flower considerably. When you look at floral decoration, you should also take an interest in the leaves, as they would have been easier to make, and therefore more like in nature, and I don’t think the artist would use a lot of his ‘freedom’ to change the leaves – but one can never know. There are at least three different flowers on your shield, and one could be a rose, but I am not quite sure.

The scales around the inscription are strange, and have, maybe, only been made for decorative reasons. In some places in India the fish is holy, and there they could have used a scaled decoration, but I don’t know if it was holy anywhere in Persia.

Jens

[Rick]

Then we must also wonder if the scales represented might be reptilian .

[rand]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

Hi Rand,

Sorry for the late response. It is always difficult to recognise flowers cut in steel, first it can have been difficult for the artist to show the flower in its correct form, and second we must consider the possibility of artistic freedom, which could change the look of the flower considerably. When you look at floral decoration, you should also take an interest in the leaves, as they would have been easier to make, and therefore more like in nature, and I don’t think the artist would use a lot of his ‘freedom’ to change the leaves – but one can never know. There are at least three different flowers on your shield, and one could be a rose, but I am not quite sure.

The scales around the inscription are strange, and have, maybe, only been made for decorative reasons. In some places in India the fish is holy, and there they could have used a scaled decoration, but I don’t know if it was holy anywhere in Persia.

Jens

Hey Jens,

Very much like your insight for using the leaves of the foliage as an important ingrediant in the recipe for identifying flowers because of their more likely true to form concept. The rose would have also been my guess for the flowers in the central section of the shield, but I more associate the rose with Persia than India, that was one of my original reasons for the shield Persian.

What may be something to consider is the gradual accumulation of line drawing motifs used on arms decoration to form a gradual timeline of both style and decoration. For example it seems the Chinese influence on Islamic arms is greatest during the late 15th and 16th century as that is where you first see the Chinese cloud motif and other very dstinctive floral designs transitions and these would be very apparent when comparing designs.

Your take on the possible association of the fish scale uniquely to India as a holy motif is very intrigueing because I had thought this more likely a Persian shield, now my eyes are open to the now seemingly more likely origen as India. It seems now that getting a translation of the inscription is the next step to see if there is anything else also possibly unique to India as that would certainly make that attribution very solid for this shield.

Thanks Jens,

rand