A beautifully blued, silvered, and gilt elbow Gauntlet,

Length: 21.5 in/54.6 cm

Sword and scabbard (Sinhalese: kasthane), Sri Lanka,

Kandyian period, 18th century,

The sword has an exquisitely detailed scabbard with embossed decoration, chased and chiseled in low relief, and a bejeweled hilt set with rubies in gold mounts. As is typical of Kandyan sword design, the pommel resembles the head of a lion (simha), the signature motif of the Kandyan period and insignia of the ruling household. The lion, elaborately cast and chased, is entwined with the liya-pata vegetal motif, and mythical creatures (yali) breathing flames.

This style of lion-headed dress sword, worn as a signifier of rank, and particularly to mark ceremonial occasions, is a Sri Lankan invention. The sword type, with a long curved blade and animal finial hilt and guard, is of European origin, and may be linked to the presence of succession of European trading companies in Sri Lanka, especially from the 17th century onward. It has its antecedents in the European short hunting sword (hanger or cuttoe) that became popular among gentlemen officers from the mid-17th and throughout the 18th century. The immediate source is likely Dutch, as the Dutch East India Company (VOC) routinely gifted swords and assorted mechanical novelties to the Kandyan court as part of a broader strategy of securing trading concessions. Some examples of these swords, with their Sinhalese decoration, have VOC blades, and it appears that most of the blades used in kasthane are of European origin.

The uniqueness of this Sinhalese sword type lies in the elaboration of decoration, with the bejeweled lion’s head hilt superbly modelled and detailed, with gold-set gemstones in the eyes. The animal terminals on the pommel, cross guards and knuckle guard have a long Indian tradition as well as existing in European weaponry, so the inspiration for the Sri Lankan version is likely a fusion of these disparate influences. The two cross guards (quillons) are in the form of projecting yali, part-lion, part-bird (serapendiya), of which one guard returns to join the hilt as the knuckle guard. Details are reserved in gold, and include vegetal flames that hang pendant from their open jaws. The grip is octagonal with alternating patterns. The scabbard is finely decorated with a diaper pattern register with four rings for attaching to a belt, followed by scrolling vegetal and floral patterned repeats, interrupted at intervals by two gold bands, and culminating in open jaws of a mythical creature (kirtimukuta-yali) emerging from foliage.

These swords appear in depictions of chiefs and noblemen of the Kandyan court, as recorded in late 18th century Dutch paintings of VOC audiences at court and the receptions of Kandyan officials at the VOC headquarters in Colombo. They likely also served as diplomatic gifts from the court to European visitors, and found their way back to Europe where they were widely admired. On occasions they appeared in aristocratic portraiture, as seen being worn by Sir Alexander Popham (d. 1669) in an equestrian portrait dated c. 1650.

Silver, gold, iron, wood, and gemstones

Dimensions: a) Sword (handle and blade): 3 3/4 × 24 in. (9.5 × 61 cm); Blade: 1 × 15 in. (2.5 × 38.1 cm) b) Scabbard: 1 1/2 × 17 1/2 in. (3.8 × 44.5 cm) c) Chape: H. 4 in. (10.2 cm); W. 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm); D. 1/2 in. (1.3 cm)

Iris Barrel Apfel, Decorator and Fashion Stylist

(August 29, 1921 – March 1, 2024) 

Ms. Apfel was one of the most vivacious personalities in the worlds of fashion, textiles, and interior design, she has cultivated a personal style that is both witty and exuberantly idiosyncratic.

Her originality was typically revealed in her mixing of high and low fashions—Dior haute couture with flea market finds, nineteenth-century ecclesiastical vestments with Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers.

With remarkable panache and discernment, she combines colors, textures, and patterns without regard to period, provenance, and, ultimately, aesthetic conventions. Paradoxically, her richly layered combinations—even at their most extreme and baroque—project a boldly graphic modernity.

Iris Barrel was born on Aug. 29, 1921, in Astoria, Queens, the only child of Samuel Barrel, who owned a glass and mirror business, and his Russian-born wife, Sadye, who owned a fashion boutique.

She studied art history at New York University, then qualified to teach and did so briefly in Wisconsin before fleeing back to New York to work on Women's Wear Daily, and for interior designer Elinor Johnson, decorating apartments for resale and honing her talent for sourcing rare items before opening her own design firm. She was also an assistant to illustrator Robert Goodman.

As a distinguished collector and authority on antique fabrics, Iris Apfel has consulted on numerous restoration projects that include work at the White House that spanned nine presidencies from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.

Along with her husband, Carl, she founded Old World Weavers, an international textile manufacturing company and ran it until they retired in 1992. The Apfels specialized in the reproduction of fabrics from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and traveled to Europe twice a year in search of textiles they could not source in the United States.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute assembled 82 ensembles and 300 accessories from her personal collection in 2005 in a show about her called “Rara Avis”.

Almost overnight, Ms. Apfel became an international celebrity of pop fashion.

Ms. Apfel was seen in a television commercial for the French car DS 3, became the face of the Australian fashion brand Blue Illusion, and began a collaboration with the start-up WiseWear. A year later, Mattel created a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll in her image. Last year, she appeared in a beauty campaign for makeup with Ciaté London.

Six years after the Met show she started her fashion line "Rara Avis" with the Home Shopping Network.

She was cover girl of Dazed and Confused, among many other publications, window display artist at Bergdorf Goodman, designer and design consultant, then signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97.

Ms. Iris Apfel became a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin in its Division of Textiles and Apparel, teaching about imagination, craft and tangible pleasures in a world of images.

 In 2018, she published “Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon,” an autobiographical collection of musings, anecdotes and observations on life and style. 

Ms. Apfel’s apartments in New York and Palm Beach were full of furnishings and tchotchkes that might have come from a Luis Buñuel film: porcelain cats, plush toys, statuary, ornate vases, gilt mirrors, fake fruit, stuffed parrots, paintings by Velázquez and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, a mannequin on an ostrich.

The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History in Boynton Beach, Florida, is designing a building that will house a dedicated gallery of Ms. Apfel's clothes, accessories, and furnishings.

Ms. Apfel’s work had a universal quality, It’s was a trend.

Happy Lunar New Year to all celebrating!

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Peace, Safety and Good Luck Continually for 2023!