Dagger (Bichuwa) Indian, Thanjavur 17th century

Kane Khanh | Archeaology
August 22, 2023
Dagger (Bichuwa) Indian, Thanjavur 17th century
This intricately crafted dagger is among the best examples of ornamental steel chiseling from southeastern India, an area renowned for this kind of metalwork. It may belong to a group of ornately decorated weapons that was preserved in the palace armory of Tanjore (present-day Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu) until the 1850s. The dagger is particularly noteworthy for the fineness of its workmanship, including complete figures in the round, and for retaining areas of original gilding, which is entirely missing on most surviving pieces of this type. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dagger (Bichuwa), Steel, gold, Indian, Thanjavur

Exhibition Overview

The permanent collection of the Department of Arms and Armor is one of the most encyclopedic in the world. To highlight the ongoing development of the collection’s multicultural and interdisciplinary nature, this exhibition focuses on approximately forty works from Europe, the United States, Japan, India, and Tibet acquired between 2003 and 2014. Beyond the well-established categories of finely decorated armor, edged weapons, and firearms, the selection features drawings and prints, textiles, and other materials that are vital, but often unrecognized, aspects of the understanding and appreciation of arms and armor as a universal art form.

petermorwood:met-armsarmor:Dagger (Bichuwa), Arms and...

Works on paper, textiles, and other select pieces will be rotated two to three times during the course of the exhibition.

Dagger (Bichuwa), Steel, gold, Indian, Thanjavur

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