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Chinese Porcelain dish with the Virgin Mary and child

Chinese dish with lady mary and child

A rare early dish meant for a Christian market.
Eight immortals logo

Bāxiān (八仙), "Eight Immortals"

Eight figures from Chinese Daoist mythology.
Kuiwen logo

Kuíwén (夔紋)

Chinese decorative pattern consisting of archaic dragon motifs.
Gankyil logo

Gankyil

Tibetan name for a Buddhist symbol consisting of three or four elements in a circle.
Nias bekhu

Bekhu

Nias name for the monkey-like figure carved on some sword hilts.
Nias lasara logo

Lasara

Nias word for the monster head that the people of Nias carved.
Double edged Bhutanese dagger logo

Double-edged Bhutanese dagger

With triple grooves and in heavy silver mountings.
Medium length Chinese straightsword jian logo

Chinese medium size jian

A heavy piece with a substantial blade, with smooth bronze mounts.
Bagua logo

Bāguà (八卦) "Eight Trigrams"

Chinese meaning "Eight Trigrams", representing the fundamental principles of our world.
Daoist shuangjian

Lóngquán Daoist shuāngjiàn

A very good set of Daoist straightswords in a single scabbard. There is a lot to see here, but I will start with the blades.
Sinhalese pihiya logo

An early "piha-kaetta"

Of nice quality, with unusual openwork silver bolster with serapendiya.
North Indian zulfiqar sword logo

Unusual Indian zulfiqar sword

With bifurcated S-shaped blade in talwar hilt.
Talwar with Mamluk style blade decor

Talwar with Mamluk style blade

In Punjabi style hilt, with elaborately chiseled blade.
Serapendiya logo

Sérapéṅdiya

Sinhalese term for a mythical bird.
Astamangala logo

Astamangala

Tibetan for the Eight Buddhist Treasures
Christian wooden mother-of-pearl inlaid cross Nguyen dynasty Vietnam

A Vietnamese Christian cross

Constructed out of dense hardwood and with fine mother-of-pearl inlays in the Vietnamese fashion.
Late Qing jian logo

A fine late Qing jian

A step above the norm in quality for this period, with nicely pierced mounts.
Belu logo

Belu

A mythical Burmese, shape-shifting creature.
Dhu alfaqar logo

Dhu alfaqar (ذو الفقار)

An Islamic legendary sword.
Qing military rank badge

Qing military rank badge

Depicting the golden cat, representing the 6th military rank.
Qing militia jian

Seven stars militia jian

A short, stout Chinese straightsword of a type used by village defenses across the empire.
Eight Buddhist treasures

Eight Buddhist Treasures

A suite of eight auspicious symbols used in Buddhist art.
Inome logo

Inome (猪目)

"Boar's eye", a heart-shaped pattern commonly used in Japanese art.
Mamluk style sword in talwar hilt

Mamluk style sword in talwar hilt

Chiseled with a rare type of decor on the base, and with two Islamic inscriptions.
Aviz tsuba

House of Aviz tsuba

A Japanese sword guard with the cross of the House of Aviz.
Lengyanju

Lěngyànjù (冷豔鋸)

Nickname for Guan Yu's "Green Dragon Crescent Blade".
Serapendiya muna

Sérapéṅdiya mūna

Sinhala for the head of a mythical bird. Often used as sword ornament.
Zulfiqar logo

Zulfiqar

An Islamic legendary sword.
Beidou, the Big Dipper

Běidǒu (北斗)

The Seven Stars of the "the Big Dipper". An important constellation in traditional Chinese philosophy and religion.
Kīrtimukha or face of glory logo

Kīrtimukha

An all-devouring creature that is used across Asia as an auspicious decorative element.
Taotie logo

Tāotiè (饕餮)

Tāotiè (饕餮) is a mythical creature that is used as a decorative element.
Tanjore spearhead

Tanjore spearhead

Description

A south Indian spearhead with a thick double-edged, symmetrical leaf-shaped blade.

Antique Chinese jian logo

Antique Chinese jian

A fine Chinese straightsword blade, of typical Qing form with a rather wide profile.
Vishnu katar

Ten avatars of Vishnu katar

Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation, took many mortal shapes, or "avatar"
Large daoist jian

Large Chinese Daoist sword

Chiseled in the blade is “勅今” which could either mean "imperial order" or "Daoist magic command".
Indian toradar

A fine Indian toradar with inlaid stock

General introduction

A number of downsized Indian toradar with such lavish inlays are in

Antique Chinese practice sword logo

An antique Chinese practice sword

With Daoist talisman and Longquan markings.
Demon repeller

The Demon Repeller - Talisman sword

Introduction

The Chinese straightsword or jian (劍) was the side arm