Item ref: 3904
Private collection, Scandinavia
This small leather shield has a rim, crescent and X-shaped mount incorporating four bosses for the hand grips of silver. The rim is engraved with a simple arcade, the X-shaped mount with lotus bud terminals, incorporating rivets by which it is attached to the shield, and edged with fleurons. Each boss has a similar band of fleurons around its dome, with a lotus flower centre in which the brass rivet for the internal loop if fixed, the rim with a band of scrolling foliage on a stippled ground with a swagged fringe. Inside is a square pad and four iron loops for the original hand grips. Shields of this type were used throughout north India from at least the sixteenth century onwards.