A RARE SOUTH INDIAN BROADSWORD

A RARE SOUTH INDIAN BROADSWORD, 16TH/17TH CENTURY, with tapering blade of flattened-diamond section (perhaps associated), iron hilt extending over the lower portion of the blade with a pair of long shaped langets chiselled with foliage, upward-curved guard, pommel en suite with the guard and fitted with an additional shaped bar (restorations, the iron parts pitted), and integral banded grip with central chiselled foliate collar, 76.5 cm blade¦¦Roy Elvis Catalogue Number C124.¦¦Similar swords are preserved in the British Museum, London (nos. 096145 and 293376) and the Victoria and Albert Museum. See Elgood 2004, p. 89, figs 8.34 and 8.35 and Rawson 1968 plates 18-20.¦¦Highlight from the Roy Elvis Collection (1944-2022)¦