sword; sword-sheath
1900-1930s
Middle East, Yemen, Hadramout
Description: Steel sword and sword-sheath. Sheath is covered in green velvet with textile and gold thread tassels. The sheath and hilt are covered in gilded decorated with filigree, rosettes, stamped floral motifs and wirework. Ceremonial sword was worn by the previous owner in combination with a ceremonial dagger and belt.
Acquisition notes: This object is part of a large collection of items donated by Leila Ingrams in 2012 (2012,6030.1ff). Some were collected by her parents, Doreen and Harold Ingrams, between the 1920s-40s and others by Leila herself from the 1980s-2005 on the island of Zanzibar and in Hadramawt, Yemen.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.












