Subject: ayan provincial warlord
Culture: Ottoman Turk
Setting: Rumelia-Anatolia 18-19thc
Object: kiliç saber
Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery *
"Swords (kiliç) Turkish, 18th and 19th centuries
The Turkish kiliç is identified by the style of the hilt, which has a 'pistol-grip' pommel at right angles to the grip and large straight handguards (quillons). The grips are normally made from ivory or horn although one of these examples has a rare Mughal jade hilt. The blades can be of watered steel, and usually have a pronounced curve that requires a scabbard with an open back or has a flat spring to facilitate the removal of the sword. These swords and scabbards are decorated in the late Ottoman taste with precious or semi-precious materials and have panels of verses from the Koran or poems engraved or inlaid. Some are dated and are stamped have [SIC] the tughra (seal) of the reigning sultan."
* Cold Steel, Museum Replicas
