Tulwar sword (1700s): Art, History and Details

Tulwar sword (1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This long curved sword and scabbard are of the kind used and worn by Mughal nobility, as seen often in paintings. The openwork hilt is a characteristic of swords from the southern Indian region known as the Deccan. By the end of the 1500s, the Mughals began making regular incursions into the Deccan as they attempted to expand their empire, increasing the exchange of art forms. Repeated four times, twice on one side of the blade and twice on the other in gold inlay, is the same line from the Qur'an 61:13: “Help [comes] from God, and Victory is imminent.” This is a popular inscription on daggers, banners, and other instruments of war, as it reassures the combatants that God is on their side, and therefore they can in good faith expect a speedy victory if they fight valiantly.

Object facts

• Title: Tulwar sword
• Date: 1700s
• Culture: India, probably Deccan
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: Iron hilt with gold; steel blade with gold; wood scabbard with velvet and metallic thread
• Dimensions: Overall: 96.6 cm (38 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1930.704

A detail from the museum

Swords of this type are often seen in Mughal paintings.

Collection credit

Gift of S. D. Wright

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Part II. Fifteenth Annual Report of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1930.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 18, no. 2, 1931, pp. 1–128.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.