Garsoee Katar

Kutch, India, 19th century
Steel, silver gilt
45cm long, 11cm wide
Stock no.: A5870
 

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Garsoee Katar

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This distinctive katar, with its waisted hilt and single crosspiece, is described as a 'garsoee' katar. The blade is triangular, double-fullered and with a reinforced armour-piercing tip which swells from 6mm at the base to 9mm at the point. The silver gilt hilt is chased with floral motifs. Its side guards curve inwards to two pierced and carved flowers, which form the sides of the crosspiece. The crosspiece is decorated, for both aesthetics and grip, with a large cuboctahedron knob. 
Though garsoee katars have generally been attributed to Kutch or Sindh, based on a dagger catalogued by Lord Egerton, it is unclear whether the form is exclusive to this region.¹ An example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 36.25.918), is more characteristic of Southern India, with its flat, slim blade.² However, Egerton’s katar, which is now housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (accession no. 3404A/(IS)), bears the same stylistic hallmarks of Kutch silverwork as our katar: rococo foliage motifs are borrowed from European art; the repoussé floral panel on the sheath of Egerton’s dagger is nearly identical in design to the chased langet of our example; areas of contrast are created by hammering tiny crescent-shaped marks into the silver gilt.

[1] Egerton, Wilbraham. An Illustrated Handbook of Indian Arms; being a classified and descriptive catalogue of the arms exhibited at the India museum. London: William H. Allen & Co., 1880. P. 135 and 138. Pl. XIV, fig. 727. 
[2] Metcalf, Simon D. ‘Splendours of the Subcontinent’, Bradford District Museums & Galleries. 23/01/2017. Retrieved online via https://bradfordmuseums.org/splendours-of-the-sub-continent-katar/ on 31/10/2024.