of steel, formed as a male torso and hinged at the sides and shoulders (hinges working replacements, securing pins later), the front plate with low medial ridge and shaped over the pectorals, the left shoulder with incised inscription, the back plate (patched inner repair on the right side) shaped over the shoulder-blades and with separate vertically fluted neck-plate, the main edges (minor replacements at the shoulders) with riveted turned borders cusped around the outer edges and pierced with small holes (old pitting overall), 44.0 cm high

Provenance

Almost certainly from the armoury of the Nizams of Hyderabad

For a very similar cuirass inscribed ‘Sarkar Mir Nizam Alikhan Bahadur 1192’ [1778-1779], see Christie’s London, Art Of The Islamic World, 25 April 2013, lot 162 (£25,000 including premium). For another bearing the same inscription, see David Alexander, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection Of Islamic Art, The Arts Of War, 1992, p. 175, no. 108. The inscriptions indicate that these cuirasses were in the armoury of the fifth Nizam of Hyderabad (ruled 1762-1803), however their actual date of manufacture is probably sometime in the 17th century.