Naturally etched Garnet that looks like a crazy cool city photographed by Enrico Bonacina found via @dusted77 ////////
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Early Medieval pattern-welded Sickle
Reconstruction by Thorkil
The sickle was based on an antler sickle case found in Stargard Szczecinski, West Pomerania (Poland). The original was richly decorated with geometrical motives, popular at that time. Thorkil’s version is a very faithful reconstruction of it, with all circles, dots, triangles and lines made on natural deer antler.
The decoration was hand engraved, then coloured with natural dark dye for a contrast and stronger effect. The sickle blade’s is pattern-welded (damascus) steel. It was hand forged (in charcoal fire) of 20 twisted layers. The cutting edge was forge-welded to pattern-welded part.
Source: Copyright © 2017 Thorkil
Yatagan Sword from the Court of Süleyman the Magnificent (reigned 1520–66)
Dated: circa 1525–30
Sword maker: Workshop of Ahmed Tekelü (possibly Iranian, active Istanbul, ca. 1520–30)
Geography: Istanbul
Culture: Ottoman, Istanbul
Medium: steel, gold, ivory (walrus), silver, turquoise, pearls, rubies
Measurements: overall length 23 3/8 inches (59.3 cm); blade length 18 3/8 inches (46.7 cm); weight 1 lb. 8 oz. (691 g)
Exquisite workmanship and lavish use of precious materials distinguish this sword as a princely weapon and exemplifies the opulence and refinement of Ottoman luxury arts. Almost identical to a yatagan (now in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul) made in 1526–27 by the court jeweller Ahmed Tekel, for the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66), this sword was undoubtedly made in the same imperial workshop.
The gold incrustation on the blade depicts a combat between a dragon and a phoenix against a background of foliage scrolls. These figures, like the gold-inlaid cloud bands and foliage scrolls on the ivory grips, are Chinese in inspiration, and were probably introduced into Ottoman art through contacts with Persia.
This sword is one of the earliest known yatagans, distinctly Turkish weapons characterised by a double-curved blade and a hilt without a guard. Yatagans were commonplace in Turkey and the Balkans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and served as sidearms for the elite troops known as Janissaries.
Source: Copyright © 2016 Metropolitan Museum of Art