Talismanic Devices and Imbuements on Islamic Arms

[Jens Nordlunde]

Yes the Cintamani (clouds?) is often shown with three dots or maybe it is a flower.
Hilt probably Deccan 17th century with a straight blade.
Catalogue pp. 313-314.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

SEE https://www.academia.edu/17314322/_%...2007_pp._33-49

WHERE IF EVER AN academic paper brilliantly presented blows the entire roof clean off many of the ideas rumours legends and reasoning previously attempted on this great subject>>> The Cintamani Dots>

See below the amazing coat ...Short-sleeved kaftan with Cintamani motifs. Bursa, attributed to Mehmet II but probably 16th century. 13/6, Topkapı Saray Museum, Istanbul.

I thought it a good plan to place the Epilogue first since it is all encompassing but needs the research of the entire document. IT is brilliant>

Quote"Epilogue;

This paper has taken account of the infinitely complex way in which the triple-ball pattern was formed and became known as Cintamani in Ottoman art. Because of its immense impact on the art of the Ottoman period and modern times, a decorative peculiarity of three balls in the triangular arrangement has been celebrated by inviting yet confusing etymological stories. The misleading naming — Cintamani — has increased yet another perplexity and turned into one of the scholarly wonders in Islamic art studies. Clearly, this decorative motif is by no means a parody of Buddhist jewels. Its Turco-Iranian associations speak for itself. There is no intention to rehearse the Ottoman story of Cintamani — how the creative spark of Ottoman designers made this motif special; how the echo of Cintamani reached its climax in the design of ceramics in the 16th century and subsequently spread across variety of media; and how it became standardized due to its involvement in the mass market and lost its exquisite flavour in the 17th century. Yet in any case, Cintamani appears along the ebb and flow of Buddhist inspiration.

As the style mellowed, the triple-ball pattern lost its animal features and began to convey different artistic messages. Its talismanic function was by degrees enhanced in Ottoman contexts, combining the forms of a crescent; it was eventually incorporated into a symbol of Islam, the profession of faith, as exemplified in the design of Ottoman banners."Unquote.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Might and Magic: The Use of Talismans in Islamic Arms and Armor


On Islamic armour we haven't really set much in print here, however, please see https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/rumi...arms-and-armor and especially the armoured shirt where the individual rings are stamped with religious names...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Another Iznic ceramic echos the Othmanli use of the 3 dot "cintimani" design.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The book on Suleyman The Magnificent has further illustrations in its vast volume including furniture< Koran holders< arrow quivers and a great historical account of The Ottoman Empire.

In Ottoman traditional designs we see a changing or morphing style perhaps magnified through the many different schools of design through centres of excellence, royal court workshops and different trades such as woodwork, calligraphy, textiles, carpet weaving, ceramics, armour makers and weapons workshops to name a few. here below are some further examples below. including impressions on coinage, various costumes and black and white sketches from old Turkish carpet design showing variety in the way the Cintimani was interpreted.

Note how the dots may change to diamond shapes or reflect moons and the animal stripe can float as a cloud design especially on carpets.
Generally Cintimani can be reflected by artisans using both dots and stripes or separately and the meaning can evolve from the Turkik tribal 3 way understanding of Sun... Sky... Fire... to a religious triple and perhaps finally to the all encompassing sign of the religion itself thus the Talisman meaning; of Islam; the overall protector.

[Jim McDougall]

Jens thank you for that great hilt entry!!! A perfect example of these unusual 'cintamani' combinations, and those 'lips' looking things do resemble clouds in a 'Rohrshach' kind of way.
Ibrahiim, thank you as well for the diligent research and entries here which are adding do much perspective to the topic.

It does seem that as with all kinds of symbolism or in many instances of intercultural exchange of influences, perception and semantics are going to have understandable differences.

For example, by way of analogy, the venerable European globe and cross, familiar as a key marking on German blades over several centuries, became a fixture not as a makers mark, but a kind of talismanic device which imbued protective properties as well as suggestion of high quality.

As these blades became traded into North Africa, the globe and cross was seen by natives in these regions as a drum and sticks, which were important in their culture as a status oriented symbol. Other markings which were often almost indeterminant in character were seen as (in one case) the fly, which odd as it sounds, to them represented the character of a great warrior.

There are many such examples and surely much the same in other cases where symbols and markings transcend cultural bounds.


I think obviously that the cintamani , referring to the three in figures usually dots, is much in this kind of situation which became a convention adopted broadly to represent what each group or culture perceived it to mean.

In many cases, of course such diffusion can lose deeper meanings and as applied in material culture items as decoration, becomes aesthetic in sense, but for our purposes we want to know the deeper meanings from their origins.


I once had a wonderful shamshir, which was clearly from Central Asia with an amazing instance of the three dot motif applied in linear fashion on the backstrap and other parts of the hilt. It was generally held that this use of the three dots represented the Turkic heritage of these people and of course heralding Tamerlane. In those times I could not associate this device (termed cintamani) with the 'gift giving jewel' in the usually described connotation. With this look into the deeper character of the term and its origins, it becomes much clearer.

So thank you Ibrahiim, and Jens, for adding all of this!!!

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Thanks Jim for a great summary on the Talisman Cintimani subject which spans so many centuries and religions down the ages. In the book shown below which I highly recommend to members it describes the difficulty encountered by the Othmanli had immense problems dealing with beurocratic issues at the best of times but in the question of liaison among the different quality workshops it was very chaotic...even though it may be said that in war they had great ability in mastering logistics...in other areas this was not the case.

In fact there was an overall sort of pecking order or authority over other master works that the Royal calligraphers seemed to have but it simply didn't work... specialists in the different disciplines of high quality craftsmanship took the designs to whatever end they were moving...so the Cintimani moved from concept to concept and even split in two the three circles or ideas from the so called tigers stripes so that they often morphed into separate designs or placed in the composition in separate areas or both.

I digress but in support of more pictures here is my next set of quite amazing photographs worth seeing from the Othmanli period on this issue. The red Koran holder showing only dots while the brown Koran holder only wavy lines i.e. Tiger stripes now morphed into cloud patterns and also seen in Turkish Rugs...AND in the decoration of the shield also incorporating dots and cloud patterns but spread separately.

Note that the Ottoman ceramic bottle has clear designs of the Cintimani and the possible shape of the tiger stripes lending themselves to The Buddha lips idea.

A most peculiar painting of a Japanese 3 dotted alter with what seems to be a sacrifice with the perpetrator making an escape and the dead body laid in front of the three ball device? A pointer toward Buddhist involvement?