Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Property from the Mohammed Khalil Collection
Lot 41*,R
A rare Safavid gold-damascened steel helmet (kulah-khud) Persia, 17th Century
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£20,000 - £25,000
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A rare Safavid gold-damascened steel helmet (kulah-khud)
Persia, 17th Century
Persia, 17th Century
of domed form surmounted by a tapering plume holder with rounded rim, with applied rim and panelling, the adjustable noseguard terminating in a palmette to each end, profusely decorated in gold overlay with panels containing a lobed cartouche lattice with inscriptions, the noseguard palmettes with further inscriptions, the camail formed of steel rings
22.5 cm. diam.
22.5 cm. diam.
Footnotes
Provenance
The Mohammed Khalil Collection.
Published
M. K. Ibrahim, Islamic Arms and Armour, Vol. II, United Arab Emirates, 2022, p. 908-9, cat. no. 796.
Inscriptions: around the base of the spike, the basmala and an Arabic pious legend in praise of the Prophet and his family, liya khamsa utfi biha harr al-waba' al-hatima al-mustafa wa'l-murtada wa [abna]huma wa'l-fatima, 'I have five (people) through whom I extinguish the shattering heat of affliction, al-Mustafa, al-Murtada, their progeny, and al-Fatima'; inscribed with names of God and the Prophet Muhammad around the walls; around the base, parts of Sura 109 (al-Kafirun), 112 (al-Ikhlas), 113 (al-Falaq) 114 (al-Nas); on the top of the noseguard, part of a Qur'anic citation; on the base of the noseguard, part of Sura 61 (al-Saff), vs. 13.
Helmets such as these have been used in the Islamic world since the 14th century. Domed panelled helmets are depicted in a manuscript of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Tabriz, circa 1330-50, as well as in a Shahnameh from Herat in the Bodleian Libray, Oxford (see Michael Gorelick, 'Oriental armour of the Near and Middle East from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries as shown in works of art' in Robert Elgood (ed.), Islamic Arms and Armour, London, 1979, pp. 56-7, No. 106 & pp. 60-61, Nos. 192-195). However, most surviving pieces of this type are Qajar in origin, with the present lot being a rare example from the Safavid period. For an example of a Safavid helmet featuring comparable segmented decoration sold in these rooms, see The Jacques Desenfans Collection, 10 April 2008, lot 168.
Important Notice to Buyers
Some countries, e.g., the US, prohibit or restrict the purchase by its citizens (wherever located) and/or the import of certain types of works of particular origins. As a convenience to buyers, Bonhams has marked with the symbol R all lots of Iranian (Persian) and Syrian origin. It is each buyer's responsibility to ensure that they do not bid on or import a lot in contravention of the sanctions or trade embargoes that apply to them.