North Indian dagger pesh-kabz. The T-section blade is made from wootz (crucible steel with a watered pattern). The hilt is made from 2 pieces of walrus tusk, and the join was originally hidden by a thin band of gilt brass. In its wooden sheath covered with silk velvet and fitted with gilt copper mounts.
Walrus tusk was an exotic and expensive material in India, and the workshop producing these hilts would not have disposed of excess material willingly. In this instance two small pieces of tusk, each insufficient to yield a whole hilt, have been skilfully carved and conjoined to form a single hilt.
fighting
