1969.29.57

Collection type

Object

Description

Shirt of iron chain mail. There is one strip of scale mail, formed of rectangular plates, running down the back seam. [BA [OPS move] 2/8/2017]

Geographical reference

India

Asia > Southern Asia > India

Person

Field collector Morland family

PRM source Abingdon Museum

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1850?, uncertain

Date collected

By 1850 ?

Acquisition information

Transferred: 1969

Materials and processes

Material Iron Metal, Process Riveted, Process Jointed

Dimensions

Width: max 1990 mm, Length: max 925 mm, Depth: max 15 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1969.29.57

Research and responses

There is a strong stylistic unity between the armours of Western and Southern Asia, arising as a result of historical events over the last 1,000 years. From the twelfth century onwards, the Persians and other Central Asian peoples had been supplying armour to the Indians, Turks and Saracens. Prior to the late eighteenth century, every major Persian city was a centre of arms production, but the cities of Khorasan and the Persian capital Isfahan were considered centres of the finest work. Conventionally, Persian armourers undertook their apprenticeship in one of these two great cities, and then travelled as far afield as Egypt, Syria, India or Russia – so sought after was Persian work. It was both the scale and quality of Persian armouries that led to this major influence on Asian armour generally. Consequently, we sometimes speak of Indo-Persian armour, rather than differentiating the two. The earliest documented form of Persian armour was the Joshan or Zirah Baktar, a long mail shirt, opening down the front (unlike the European hauberk, which was pulled on over the head like a tunic or dress), with the chest reinforced by plates of steel. This Zirah Baktar can be seen as the ultimate template for all of the Islamic suits of metallic armour. Simple Persian chainmail was known as Zirah, and was generally linked together using the same technique as that in Europe, known as ‘Four-in-One’, where each riveted ring passed through four others. Persian chainmail was sometimes heavily enhanced to become Zirah Korta Saktou – polychrome mail, incorporating patterns of rings made from gold, copper, or more commonly brass, interspersed with the conventional riveted steel rings. These patterns could make stripes, chevrons, zigzags, diamonds, even inscriptions in Arabic. In India, the same polychrome mail technique was known as Ganga-Jamni, in an allusion to the confluence of the milky Ganges and clear, dark Jamna rivers. Throughout most of the Early Modern period, Islam was ruled by three empires concurrently: In the west, the Ottomans, in Central Asia, the Safavid Persians, and in the east, the Moguls. One of the central early cultural achievements of the Safavid empire in the 16th century was the reconciliation of two major strands of Islamic religious culture: Sufism - the mystical branch of Islam - and Shi‘ia - the traditional veneration of ideal, heroic individuals, who exhibited the qualities of nobility, self-sacrifice, piety, purity of character and generosity to their enemies in victory or defeat. This is conventionally termed the Sufi-Shi‘i Complex, and underpinned the Safavid Persian concept of chivalrous warfare. This in turn influenced the Mogul attitude to war. The chivalrous warfare espoused by Sufism had informed Moorish warfare in North Africa long before, which had in turn passed through Spain into wider European culture during the Medieval period. Both the Persian and Mogul armies were organised on a decimal system; for every 100 horsemen, there was a centurion officer termed Sipah Salar, for every ten Sipah Salar, there was an Amir, commanding a thousand horses; for every ten Amir, there was a Malik, commanding ten thousand horses. The Malik answered directly to the emperor. Relevant Reading: Egerton of Tatton, Lord (1896) Indian & Oriental Armour. London: Arms & Armour Press. Robinson, H.R. (1967) Oriental Armour. London: Herbert & Jenkins. Wenner, M.W. (1980) The Arab/Muslim Presence in Medieval Central Europe. In: International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.12, No.1, pp.59-79. Alexander, D.G. (1983) Two Aspects of Islamic Arms & Armour. In: Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol.18, pp.97-109. Grancsay, S.V. (1986) Arms & Armour. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tirri, A.C. (2003) Islamic Weapons: Maghrib to Moghul. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Indigo Publishing. Schimmel, A. (2004) The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art & Culture. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. Research Conducted for DCF Cutting Edge Project 2006/2007 [AM]

Search terms: Armour Weapon, Armour