A rare gold koftgari steel combination percussion pistol push dagger (katar)
India, 19th Century
the watered steel blade of typical form with armour piercing tip, chiselled with foliate motifs to the fuller, the sidebars incorporating twin percussion pistols, the grips with openwork vegetal decoration, the hilt decorated in gold overlay with floral and geometric decoration
42 cm. long
Footnotes:
Provenance
The Mohammed Khalil Collection.

Published
M. K. Ibrahim, Islamic Arms and Armour, Vol. II, United Arab Emirates, 2022, p. 695, cat. no. 515.

The blade of this unusual weapon relates to katars produced in Bundi during the 19th Century. An example of a gun katar in the Royal Collection, presented by Maharao Rajar Ram Singh of Bundi to King Edward VII when Prince of Wales during his tour of India in 1875-76 (RCIN 11455), can be seen in a photograph of a cabinet at Marlborough House (see W. Griggs, Indian Art in Marlborough house, London 1910, CASE N). Another, which relates extremely closely to the present lot, is in the The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2020.80); another from the collection of Lord Kitchener (1850-1916) is in the Ontario Museum (Accession no. 948.1.124).
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