Dagger (Jambiya) with Scabbard

Unknown

hilt and scabbard, late 19th–early 20th century; blade, 18th–19th century · Steel, ivory, wood, silver, gold, rubies, emeralds · Arms and Armor

This Arab dagger was worn by Sharif Husayn ibn 'Ali, amir of Mecca (r. 908–16) and king of the Hejaz (r. 1916–24), and then by his son, Faisal, briefly king of Syria (1920) and subsequently king of Iraq (r. 1921–33). The pierced blade is a late version of an Ottoman Turkish type of the sixteenth century. The gold-damascened inscriptions include a phrase referring to the dagger: “I admire, as the [great] art of the Arabs, the gilded dagger.”

Artist

Unknown

Date

hilt and scabbard, late 19th–early 20th century; blade, 18th–19th century

Medium

Steel, ivory, wood, silver, gold, rubies, emeralds

Culture

hilt and scabbard, Arabian, Jedda; blade, Iranian or Turkish

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Anna L. Fisher, 1922