LOT 0310

Khazar Iron Sabre with Gilt Bronze Cross Guard

9TH CENTURY A.D.

31 5/8 in. (610 grams, 80.5 cm).

A single-edged hand-forged sabre with a gently curving blade, an iron band welded beneath the cross guard, together with a tongue along the side of the blade; the separate gilt cross guard with spherical ornamented finials to the quillons, the central panel with a stylised face flanked by a pair of leaping lions biting the top of the head, the other side with a lozenge within a ropework frame. [No Reserve]

Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.

Accompanied by an academic report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.114437-196034.

Cf. similar specimens in Zakharow, A., Arendt, W., Studia Levedica, Archaeologischer Beitrag zur Geschichte der Altungarn im IX JH., Budapest, 1935, fig.21, p.54, fig.22, p.56 (guards), pls. III,VI nos. 3,5; Lebedinsky, I., De l’epée scythe au sabre mongol, Paris, 2008, pp.172ff.; Gorelik, M., ‘The image of the men-warrior in Kabaria-Ugria-Russia (in Russian)’ in Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes, no.5, Kazan, 2017, pp.257-267, fig.1, nos.1,5; Fodor, I., Revesz, L., Wolf, M., Nepper, I.M., Morigi Govi, C., Gli Antichi Ungari, nascita di una nazione, Bologna, 1998, p.132, no.117 (cat.515); Bashir, M., The Arts of the Muslim Knight, The Furusiyya Art Foundation Collection, Milano, 2008, p.34.

This exceptional sabre shows similarity with examples from the Caucasus and Kuban regions. The blade could be Khazar-Magyar, and certainly its best parallels are the specimens from Verchne-Szaltovo area. According to M. Gorelik, some of these sabres were produced by the Kabarians, a breakaway tribe from the Khazar State, who formed an alliance with the Magyars. The extra band welded beneath the quillons, together with the side tongue, not only protected the scabbard from being cut by the blade but, more importantly, defended the warrior’s fingers which were wrapped around the quillons when fighting.