A fine katar or punch dagger from Thanjavur (formerly Tanjore) in Southern India. It has a long European blade with marks. The hilt is of typical H shape, however, it has unusual gilt decoration. The side bars are pierced with a remarkably precise lattice pattern of overlapping hexagons. Two bar grips connect the side bars. They are fluted with swelling at centre and in turn connected by two small bars. The European straight blade is held between reinforcing plates, chiselled with flowers, lattices, and a cypress tree, terminating in a trefoil. Unusually, the steel hilt is gilt throughout.

A katar of identical dimensions and with very similar decoration, is in the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts (accession no. 2014.408). It was made in Thanjavur and has been dated to the 1500s or early 1600s. Another very similar katar, dated to 1620–1630, was exhibited in the 2015 exhibition Mortal Beauty at the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow.[1] Almost all elements are identical to ours, though it has yalis rather than a cypress tree on the reinforcing plates. Another, dated to the 17th or 18th century and attributed to Thanjavur, was exhibited in Splendeurs des armes orientales in Paris, 1988.[2]

[1] Karlova, Evgenia et al. Mortal Beauty: Arms and Armour of India and China [exhibition catalogue], Moscow: Museum of Oriental Art, 2015, cat. 46, p. 165.
[2] Missillier, Philippe, and Howard Ricketts. Splendeur des armes orientales. Paris: ACTE-EXPO, 1988, cat. 127, p. 80.