The Saber Highestly Granted to Noyon Bambar Presented in the Collection of Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps

Abstract

Purpose. The paper studies the golden saber from the Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal corps (The Artillery Museum).Results. Based on the analysis of the construction and decoration of the blade, tang and guard it is supposed that this sample of long-bladed weapon belongs to the group of “chechuga” sabers. In the original configuration the saber had the hilt decorated with gemstones and scabbard covered with leather with fittings made of copper alloy. The blade bears bilingual inscription and it means that this piece of weapon belongs to the sabers granted to the specific person with indication of his name. This saber was granted to Kalmykian noyon (prince) Bambar for his victory over Kazakhs in 1762. The analysis of archive documents allowed to understand the circumstances of the battle of Feb, 17, 1762 as the Empress Ekaterina II ordered to grant a saber to Bambar for that battle. Bambar brought this saber to Qing empire during the “Torgud escape” in 1771. In the beginning of 20th century during the suppression of the Yihetuan (Boxer) uprising Russian officers paid attention to the saber with the golden inscription in Russian, so the saber was handed to the command of Kwantung fortress and then sent to Saint Petersburg in 1903.Conslusion. The saber is of high scientific value, as it is the only example of the weapons of the Kalmyk princes, on which there is a gold inscription indicating the name of the owner of the saber. This saber is a unique relic of the Russian-Kalmyk relations of the 18th century.