A Qajar gold-damascened steel helmet (khula-khud) Persia, 19th Century


of tall domed form surmounted by spike, engraved and decorated in gold and silver damascene with a design of interlaced tendrils and split-palmettes forming cartouches filled with floral sprays, the rim with a band of inscription-filled cartouches, the adjustable noseguard terminating in palmettes at each end filled with paired birds, flanked by plume holders, with mail neckguard 20.3 cm. diam.
|ProvenanceH.E. Hossein Ghods-Nakhai.Jacques Desenfans (1920-1999), acquired in the 1960s.Bonhams, The Jacques Desenfans Collection, London, 10 April 2008, lot 169.Inscriptions: Persian verses. Hossein Ghods-Nakhai was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Tehran from 1961-1962, and was also Iran's Ambassador to the Holy See from 1966-1970 and an honorary president of the Iran Society from 1958-1961. He is the author of The Rubiyat of Ghods.