My Katar Collection

[Runjeet Singh]

Hi Kurt/Eric,

Lovely katar, and thanks for sharing!

The gold koftgari on your Katar certainly has some age to it, and bears the hall marks of 17th or 18th work.

My theory would be that the katar is made in Tanjore/Srirangam, as is now popular belief, probably in the 16th or 17th Century, by local craftsmen. I believe the gold is the work of a Northern (Rajput/Punjabi) koftgari artist, probably in the 17th or 18th Century. The alternative is that a South Indian craftsman has been trained by Northern artisans.

The wonderful thing is the koftgari artist has incorporated pure South Indian design, in the form of the upstanding Yali's (Leogryphs) within the gold-work on the sidebars, as Eric has shown.

Another interesting comparison I would like to show you is of some silver koftagri from an 18th Century South Indian pata blade. The
small flowers within the twisting vine or stem, has a close resemblance.

Regards,
Runjeet

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Akaalarms

Hi Kurt/Eric,

Lovely katar, and thanks for sharing!

The gold koftgari on your Katar certainly has some age to it, and bears the hall marks of 17th or 18th work.

My theory would be that the katar is made in Tanjore/Srirangam, as is now popular belief, probably in the 16th or 17th Century, by local craftsmen. I believe the gold is the work of a Northern (Rajput/Punjabi) koftgari artist, probably in the 17th or 18th Century. The alternative is that a South Indian craftsman has been trained by Northern artisans.

The wonderful thing is the koftgari artist has incorporated pure South Indian design, in the form of the upstanding Yali's (Leogryphs) within the gold-work on the sidebars, as Eric has shown.

Another interesting comparison I would like to show you is of some silver koftagri from an 18th Century South Indian pata blade. The
small flowers within the twisting vine or stem, has a close resemblance.

Regards,
Runjeet

Runjeet, correct me if I am wrong but this katar seems to incorporate some of the same Southern features, Yali and small flowers along with very obvious peacocks and a couple of fish as well..

[Runjeet Singh]

Hi Eric,

Yes, totally South Indian in design. The Yali is predominantly a Hindu icon, and interestingly popular in Mysore, even during the reign of Islamic ruler Tipu Sultan. Although I don't believe he owned/commissioned any Yali related items himself, I feel some of the 'Tipu' tigers we see, have 'Yali' characteristics, obviously influenced by the Yali his artisans would see all around them. Of course the opposite is applicable, some Hindu weapons also mimic the use of the Tipu tigers with Yali's.

The Katar you show I believe is one from the Metropolitan museum, and employs a European blade. This 'shell' guard Katar (some with European blades) are a later evolution of the Katar that James started the discussion with.

Elgood, in his book, shows an interesting early picture from the stock of London dealer, Oldman, with a group of these Tanjore katars, which Elgood suggests have evolved in design over the years c.1575-1675.

Regards
Runjeet

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Akaalarms

Hi Eric,

Yes, totally South Indian in design. The Yali is predominantly a Hindu icon, and interestingly popular in Mysore, even during the reign of Islamic ruler Tipu Sultan. Although I don't believe he owned/commissioned any Yali related items himself, I feel some of the 'Tipu' tigers we see, have 'Yali' characteristics, obviously influenced by the Yali his artisans would see all around them. Of course the opposite is applicable, some Hindu weapons also mimic the use of the Tipu tigers with Yali's.

The Katar you show I believe is one from the Metropolitan museum, and employs a European blade. This 'shell' guard Katar (some with European blades) are a later evolution of the Katar that James started the discussion with.

Elgood, in his book, shows an interesting early picture from the stock of London dealer, Oldman, with a group of these Tanjore katars, which Elgood suggests have evolved in design over the years c.1575-1675.

Regards
Runjeet

Runjeet, you are correct, the image is from the excellent collection of the Met. The "shell" guard katar you mention from the Met's collection all seem to be South Indian from what I can see with my limited knowledge. This is my new project, editing their high definition images and making them available so they can actually be seen, especially the details. As you know, the Met has an excellent collection of katar.

George Stone donated some very ornate katar to the museum in 1935, and for the most part they are only available for viewing online except for the occasional image from the collection that gets included in a book like the well known peacock katar from Elgood's book. By re-editing the images and making them available online people will be able to see the incredible details and study them. I have been expanding the descriptions a bit as well.

I do not think anyone has re-edited these images, some of the katar in the Mets collection are truly impressive and they deserve to be properly desplayed in some menner I think. Here are a few examples, maybe a new thread is in order so as not to take away from James katar which by the way was excellently photographed in detail from many angles, everyone should post their items this way, it makes it much easier to study and comment on them.

[Runjeet Singh]

Great work Eric, I look forward to seeing more.

Regards
Runjeet

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Akaalarms

Great work Eric, I look forward to seeing more.

Regards
Runjeet

Runjeet, according to the Mets records they have 83 katar, 2 are on display and 64 have images that are available for viewing. I will have them all edited and online soon, I will post a link when I am through.

Since gold work was mentioned I thought I would post one of the two Met katars that is available for viewing, it has some incredible koftgari "The watered steel blade has a chiseled medallion at the top of both sides decorated with an inscription that reads: "Help from Allah and a speedy victory. So give the glad tidings to the believers" (Koran 61:13)", and there is a couple of mystery items, the first is labeled as a pata but it looks more like a type of katar.