Splendid silver Tulwar for translation and comments

Jim McDougall · 25th June 2025, 04:02 PM

Thank you for linking this, and the guys had some great observations on that as well, indeed most unusual as it appears remarkably in the same styling loosely as this sword. In the 18th century, there was profound interest in 'oriental style' in Europe, especially 'chinasorie' decoration particularly in smallswords and court swords, The use of shakudo and other alloyed material was used in many of the hilts and scabbards.

As I mentioned, even the swordsmiths such as Thomas Gill provided high end blades for sumptuous hilts such as Chinese jian which were highly decorated in precious metal.

These kinds of remarkable 'oriental' (in those days India was included with the Middle East and the Orient in that description) hilts and mounts were often paired with high end blades with their own venerable character.
While these kinds of weapons are usually of course 'one off' and privately commissioned, it is of course hard to assess based on comparisons available in references. Most court and presentation arms are only referenced in highly esoteric and specialized material.

You are very fortunate to have acquired these two weapons which seem to have remarkably similar character in the combined interpretations of styling and silver reflecting traditional elements and the potential for diplomatic associations of these times.

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25th June 2025, 04:02 PM	#14
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,498	Thank you for linking this, and the guys had some great observations on that as well, indeed most unusual as it appears remarkably in the same styling loosely as this sword. In the 18th century, there was profound interest in 'oriental style' in Europe, especially 'chinasorie' decoration particularly in smallswords and court swords, The use of shakudo and other alloyed material was used in many of the hilts and scabbards. As I mentioned, even the swordsmiths such as Thomas Gill provided high end blades for sumptuous hilts such as Chinese jian which were highly decorated in precious metal. These kinds of remarkable 'oriental' (in those days India was included with the Middle East and the Orient in that description) hilts and mounts were often paired with high end blades with their own venerable character. While these kinds of weapons are usually of course 'one off' and privately commissioned, it is of course hard to assess based on comparisons available in references. Most court and presentation arms are only referenced in highly esoteric and specialized material. You are very fortunate to have acquired these two weapons which seem to have remarkably similar character in the combined interpretations of styling and silver reflecting traditional elements and the potential for diplomatic associations of these times.