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A carved leather shield (dhal) with gold koftgari steel mounts Deccan, India, 18th/ 19th Century image 1
A carved leather shield (dhal) with gold koftgari steel mounts Deccan, India, 18th/ 19th Century image 2
Lot 135

A carved leather shield (dhal) with gold koftgari steel mounts
Deccan, India, 18th/ 19th Century

22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £7,040 inc. premium

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A carved leather shield (dhal) with gold koftgari steel mounts
Deccan, India, 18th/ 19th Century

of deep convex circular form with upturned rim, profusely tooled with a foliate lattice, floral motifs to the interstices, with central concentric roundels containing a flowerhead surrounded by a band of floral scrollwork, the rim with further floral scrollwork, mounted with four steel bosses engraved and decorated in gold overlay with floral sprays, two straps to reverse
46.6 cm. diam.

Footnotes

Surviving leather shields are rare. A carved 19th Century example attributed to Ahmedabad is in the Royal Collection, Sandringham House (RCIN 37531). An 18th Century leather dhal is in The Metropolitan Museum, New York (Object No. 36.25.649). For a 17th Century Bengal lacquered leather shield in the Furusiyya Art Foundation, see Bashir Mohamed, The Arts of the Muslim Knight, Italy, 2007, p. 377, No. 357 (Inv. No. R-877).

Additional information