of circular form with sharpened outer edge, the finely watered steel blade decorated in gold inlay with two stylised palmette motifs to either side
25.6 cm. diam.

Footnotes

Provenance: formerly in a Maryland, USA collection of arms and armour.

The quoit is a distinctive Sikh military weapon, fired like a discus or frisbee, or even spun on the forefinger before being released with a momentum that could dismember at a distance of 50 metres. As the decoration runs right to the extreme edge, these examples are unlikely to have been intended for regular use in battle, but are more likely to have been for ceremonial use as sharpening the edge would inevitably have removed some of the decoration. A similar example is illustrated in Susan Stronge (ed.), The Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms, London 1999, p. 15, pl. 3.

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- Islamic and Indian Art
- Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art

A Sikh gold koftgari watered-steel Quoit Northern India, 19th Century

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Oliver White