Kulah Khud

The steel bowl of this Qajar helmet (or kulah khud) is adorned throughout with winding vine tendrils and stylized flowerheads in gold. At its apex the helmet is fitted with a gently sloping plaque which leads upwards to a faceted conical spike and is secured to the bowl with small rivets.

Two plume holders are fitted symmetrically to the front of the helmet, a central nasal bar of rectangular section at their centre terminating at both ends in a lobed panel decorated with gold patterning en suite with the helmet’s bowl. The lower edge is then lined with a scroll of Islamic calligraphy, below which the helmet’s brim has been pierced with a sequence of small holes to hold a camail of multiple tails in various shapes and sizes. Many of the camail’s rings are brass, creating a pleasing pattern of equidistant diamonds on an iron-black ground.