Decorator, Weapons, Les Collections, Celebres, D'Oeuvres D'Art, Croc De Cornac, From the Collection De M le Baronne S de Rothschild, Plate 2, 1864

Date: 1864

Engraver: Delatre

Published by Goupil and Co, Editors, in Paris

Paper Size: 445 x 305mm

Print Size: 225 x 165mm

Condition: Good

Technique: Copperplate Engraving

Price: $150

Description: 

RME with three divisions starting from a common socket, perforated with a network of intersecting circles, & crowned, at its two ends, with tori with acanthus leaves. On the upper torus, a tiger mask leans against a base that bears the peacock on which is crouched Cârtikeia, the god of war; two chimeras support the flowery ogive serving as a nimbus to the god, & which is terminated by a blooming fleuron; these details, almost in the round, stand out for the most part from the three recessed edges of a straight two-edged blade which forms the axis of the piece. A fantastic tiger, itself laden with other animals, leans against the socket & forms the starting point of the fang, at the base of which are seen a small elephant & two chimeras; a monstrous man, who surmounts them, wears a fleuron on his head, from which starts a line of pearls, chiseled in the edge of the crescent. On both sides, open foliage, strewn with animals and birds, the blade evident, the lower edge of which alone is sharpened. On the other side of the socket, hanging from the tiger stands a chimera whose head ends in a sort of trunk curved downwards, and which motivates the edge of the axe. The handle, in black iron, is richly damascened with foliage and gold arabesques; it is cut, towards the middle of its length, by an elegant openwork ring. Finally, a guard, sculpted with fine openwork ornaments, rises from the top of the socket & is attached, at the bottom of the handle, under the head of a fantastic animal, with a gaping mouth armed with enormous teeth. This head is found on many Indian weapons, & must be symbolic