Beschreibung:

The Baird Jewels and Archive including Tipu Sultan's Sword The historic and evocative “Bedchamber Sword” of Tipu Sultan taken at the fall of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799 Sword, of the type called sukhela by Rawson, with a calligraphic hilt, a broad, straight, wide single-edged blade and a velvet-covered, silver-gilt mounted scabbard. Overall length (in scabbard) 42ins. (1079mm.); blade length 36ins. (927mm.). The polished, bright steel hilt of standard talwar form, with a dished disc pommel, convex pommel cap fitted with a gold loop for a sword knot, bellied grip and short, waisted quillons curving slightly towards the tip of the blade; the hilt itself canted slightly forward and inlaid overall in gold with five of the qualities of God and an invocation of Him (twice), each of the qualities and one of the invocations rendered six times. The straight backsword blade, 1.5ins. (38mm.) wide at the forte and with a double-edged point 10ins. (254mm.) long, inlaid in gold on the outside with the orb and parasol mark ascribed to Imperial Moghul swordsmiths, and deeply engraved in five lines, within an engraved border, on the inside of the blade, THE SWORD OF TIPPOO SULTAUN Found in his Bed Chamber after SERINGAPATAM was taken by Storm 4th May 1799 and Presented by the ARMY to MAJOR GENERAL BAIRD through their Commander LIEUT. GENERAL HARRIS, as a token of their high opinion of his Courage and Conduct in the Assault which he Commanded, and in which TIPPOO SULTAUN was slain. the blade pierced with a small hole 3ins. (96mm.) from the tip. The blade inlaid in gold on the back edge at the forte with an inscription, “samsir al-malik”, in Persi-Arabic that translates as The Sword of the Ruler The wooden scabbard covered in faded, green, corded silk velvet and mounted with three silver-gilt mounts, the upper two mounts having loose gilded iron rings; the mounts engraved overall with panels of leaves within borders of bubri stripes and the lower mount fitted with a gilded steel shoe. £150,000-250,000 Footnote Surely one of the most important of the few swords with unquestioned close personal associations with Tipu Sultan, this sword, with its unimpeachable provenance and contemporary documented links with both Tipu and Baird, must represent one of the most evocative trophies of war to be sold in auction for many years. National and private collections worldwide have examples of the arms and armour removed from Seringapatam after its fall. Inevitably, many of these have supposed links with Tipu. Equally inevitably, many of these links are apocryphal – the result as much of wishful thinking as of the power of the Tipu myth and its ability to confer status upon what were everyday objects in the palace of the ruler of Mysore. Few collections, other than the British Royal collection, possess items with the unquestioned provenance of The Bedchamber Sword: a weapon not only from Seringapatam but also from the private quarters of its prince, a weapon that was undoubtedly a part of his personal arsenal. The sword itself is of great historical importance. It is also of great importance as a sword, calligraphic hilts being amongst the rarest type of hilt from the Indian sub-continent and involving extremely high standards of manufacturing detail. The combination of what is essentially a talwar hilt with a wide backsword blade that is probably of Indian manufacture rather than a European import renders this sword, a sukhela. What P. S. Rawson categorised as this type of sword is associated with southern India and particularly with south-eastern India: Madras, Mysore, the Mahratha territories and the Deccan (where the form is called a dhup). There is evidence to suggest these were swords of state, rather than fighting swords: the lack of a knucklebow on this example would tend to support this. Similarly, the presence of such swords in Mughal paintings – where they are shown being worn by courtiers or being received as gifts by the Emperor – would explain not