Master Art

The steel tulwar handle is depicted with a flat circular pommel and a slender knuckle guard. It is decorated in silver inlay in a floral pattern with leaves and vines. While the shape and design is common among nineteenth-century Indian hilts, the decoration is unusual. The artist has applied silver to the steel and decorated the piece in sculpted relief. The inclusion of the attenuated knuckle guard with a curved end and a drooping flower bud is also rare as many tulwar hilts have since lost this feature over time.