An Afsharid gold-damascened steel sword (shamshir)
Persia, 18th Centurythe single-edged steel blade of curved form with single fuller, the blade widening towards the double-edged tip with chiselled palmette at transition, decorated in gold overlay to one side near the forte with an inscription-filled cartouche, above and below palmette cartouches filled with foliate interlace, the crossguard decorated in gold overlay with scrolling tendrils overlaid with flowerheads, the quillons in the form of dragon heads, horn grips
85 cm. long注脚Inscriptions: 'The work of Mu'allim Misri'.

For a shamshir with an almost identical crossguard dated to the Afsharid period in the Military Museum of Tehran see Manouchehr M Khorasani, Arms and Armour from Iran, Tubingen, 2006, p. 488. Mu'allim Misri made four other recorded shamshirs: one is in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, another in the Military Museum, Tehran, and another two signed with his name are in the Historisches Museum, Bern (ibid, p.177, and cat.80).