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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

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Strzyga

Region of origin: Poland

Female vampiric spirits that can assume the form of an owl and hunt people who dared wander into their forests at night. It was thought strzyga were the result of a person born with two souls, with only one soul able to move on to the afterlife after their passing the other soul becoming stuck in the dead body, returning from the grave as the ghoulish creature. It was thought the second soul manifested as the person having multiple body parts, such as two hearts or a second set of teeth, and anyone thought to possess these qualities may be buried with the corpse’s head removed to prevent the strzyga from rising.

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