A SOUTH INDIAN RAPIER, LATE 16TH/17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY SRIRANGAM

A SOUTH INDIAN RAPIER, LATE 16TH/17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY SRIRANGAM with broad tapering blade of hollow-diamond section, iron hilt comprising a pair of long pierced tapering langets, broad curved rectangular guard with some soft metal inlay on the outside, pommel en suite with the guard and fitted with a pierced triangular panel front and back, segmental button, and two-stage iron grip (the sides of the pommel and the button restored, pitted), 78.0 cm blade Swords of this form are preserved at Junagarh Fort, Bikaner and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 36.25.1582). See Elgood 2004, p. 88, figs. 8.29, 8.30 and 8.31. Roy Elvis collection number C40.