Dagger Decorated with Calligraphy and Floral Designs

late 15th century

This swords belongs to a typology known as "ear" daggers, dague à oreilles in french, alla Levantina in Italian. Ear daggers are named after the distinctive shape of their pommels with their two flat discs resembling ears. The pommel was customarily overlaid on its outer side with the same material as the grip, with horn, ivory, or wood and occasionally made entirely of metal. Each ear plaque, retained by a riveted hemispherical plain silver boss, is decorated with corrollas of flowers around the edge. Shields of armour similar to the blazon of the Nasrid emirs of Granada can be seen engraved on the upper part of the ivory pommel ears.