Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 155*
A silver-mounted Flintlock Sporting Rifle from the Royal Armoury of Tipu Sultan, by Asad-e Rahman Seringapatam, dated Mawludi 1222/ AD 1793-94
21 April 2015, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £134,500 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
A silver-mounted Flintlock Sporting Rifle from the Royal Armoury of Tipu Sultan, by Asad-e Rahman
Seringapatam, dated Mawludi 1222/ AD 1793-94
Seringapatam, dated Mawludi 1222/ AD 1793-94
the barrel of 12-bore, with silver foresight set in a gold cartouche and muzzle line, a band of gold bubri pattern at the muzzle, the top flat inlaid with a Persian inscription extending into a 'Haydar' talismanic square and calligraphic tiger mask, each side of the top flat decorated with leaves and flowers enclosing a gold tiger chasing a deer, followed by a small dog or rat, the maker's signature, date and place of manufacture in gold at the base of the barrel, the tang bearing the magic number '313' inlaid in gold, the rounded steel lock carved in the shape of a tiger in the round from the shoulder upward and in relief below this, covered all over in bubri pattern, a prostate European before it, the maker's name and place of manufacture behind the European, date and Haydar control mark behind the tiger, the safety catch on the tiger's back shaped as a smaller tiger, the walnut stock carved in the English style, a shell carved in relief at the breech tang, followed by a silver bubri-shaped escutcheon decorated with a European prostrate beneath a tiger, the butt-plate with foliate motifs and stylised plantain finial, the underside of the gun decorated en suite with bubri pattern, the side-plate with tigers devouring deer, silver fore-end cap, iron sling-swivels, original ramrod
the barrel 98.6 cm. long; the whole 137 cm. long
the barrel 98.6 cm. long; the whole 137 cm. long
Footnotes
Provenance:
Robin Wigington collection, the Arms and Armour Museum, Stratford-upon-Avon;
Private collection, acquired Sotheby's, The Tipu Sultan Sale, 25th May 2005, lot 56.
Published:
Wigington, Robin, The Firearms of Tipu Sultan 1783-1799, Hatfield, 1992, TR9, pp.62-66
Inscription:
On the barrel, Tofang-e binazir-e khusraw-e hind/ Ke bashad barq-e suzan thani-ye u/ Tavanad sar-nevesht-e khasm bar-dasht/Hadaf gardad agar pishani-ye u, 'The peerless rifle of the Khusraw of India/To which the forked lightning is second/Can seal the enemy's fate/ If his forehead is made the target'); bismillah Muhammad, 'In the name of God/Muhammad', as a tiger-mask cypher.
The long, flat spaces running along the gun barrel in its octagonal phase are idea for the kind of tiger-animal chase scenes depicted here, as well as on a rifle signed by Sayyid Ma'sum included in this sale (lot 153). The theme is returned to on the side-plate of this weapon, where the tiger holds its quarry by the neck, and perhaps also echoed in the soldiers, possibly Europeans, which are mauled by the tigers on the lock-plate and escutcheon.