Tulwar sword
Unknown Artist
1700s
Medium
Iron hilt with gold; steel blade with gold; wood scabbard with velvet and metallic thread
Dimensions
l. 96.6 cm
Classification
Arms and Armor
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of S. D. Wright
Accession Number
1930.704
About this artwork
This long curved sword and scabbard are of the kind used and worn by Mughal nobility, as seen often in paintings. The openwork hilt is a characteristic of swords from the southern Indian region known as the Deccan. By the end of the 1500s, the Mughals began making regular incursions into the Deccan as they attempted to expand their empire, increasing the exchange of art forms. Repeated four times, twice on one side of the blade and twice on the other in gold inlay, is the same line from the Qur'...