Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

  • Persian or Caucasus Qama

Persian or Caucasus Qama
Qajar Dynasty (Northern Iran) - Erivan Governorate (Yerevan, Armenia) - Tiflis Governorate (Tbilisi, Georgia) Caucasus Viceroyalty of Russian Empire
Last half 19th century. Possible date of 1894/95
Steel, gold, walrus ivory, wood, leather, metal alloy
Blade: 38,1cm
Hilt & Blade: 51,4cm
Hilt, Bade, Sheath: 52cm
Collection Date: 2022

An attractive qama sword originating either in Northern Iran, Armenia, or Georgia. There are discrepancies attributed to almost identical examples, depending on the literature from examples cited in "Arms and Armor from Iran", "Eastern Weapons", and "Oriental Arms and Armour in the Hermitage Collection", amongst a few other sources. It may be North Persian styling, likely Armenian, a very fine Czerny’s lot (link below) in very similar styling is signed by an Armenian master and dated 1844. Another example cited as Tiflis. In The Hermitage Collection, the bird decoration is attributed to Tiflis, Georgia.

This is a heavy piece, with the hilt made of two slabs of walrus ivory, connected by iron ogival pins (golmikhs) overlayed in gold decoration. The iron side straps are also ornated with gold scroll motifs. The thick, double-eged steel blade features a deep offset central fuller decorated with fine gold overylay of birds, volutes, and floral motifs. The arabic number "12" is overlayed very small in the upper bird's head, possibly suggesting a date of 13/12 or 1894/5 in Gregorian. The wood slab sheath with remnants of leather, an iron baldric loop with gold scroll motifs, and later added chape of a metal alloy (possibly tin).

This piece arrived in very poor condition. Some work went into revitalizing it back to the condition seen here. The blade is pitted, and there are minor losses to the gold work, stable cracks to the ivory, and nearly all the leather on the sheath is now gone. Regardless, it still presents itself as a beautiful example of the type, while at one point, it was a fine quality item before falling into neglection.