Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

232 III. Судан и его соседи the former owners) to the local museums, as is the case, for example, of the Sudanese collection in theRoyalMuseumof Scotland. Though both Egyptian and Sudanese markets have long been exhausted, these trophy swords still can be found on the auctions inUK, being even cheaper than the exemplars available in the Khartoum market where only modern kaskara (late 20th C. at the best) could now be found. 1 The kaskara were mass material, thus often neglected, till very recently. Besides, being an ordinary weapon, these swords are not particularly distinguished by their decoration — the virtually only fea- ture that used to attract attention of the collectors. Consequently, only few of them — such as a richly decorated and heavily gilded example from Khalili collection, 2 made in 1312 AH (1898–9 AD) for Sultan ‘Ali Dinar, 3 — managed to break their way into the exhibitions, while most of their counterparts are bound to remain in the back-shelves of 1 In fact, I undertook such an attempt when had a chance, in the late 2010s, and it was a challenge to find something produced in the past century. 2 Cat. 144: David Alexander. The Arts of War: Arms and Armour of the 7th to 19th C. (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, v. XXI). Oxford, 1992. P. 211–12. 3 ‘Ali Dinar — Sultan of Darfur in Sudan (1898 — 6.11.1916), who estab- lished his rule after the defeat of al-Mahdiyya movement and was recognized by English authorities. See Theobald A. B. ‘Ali Dinar: Last Sultan of Darfur 1898–1916. London: Longmans, Green andCo., 1965; on theDarfur Sultanate in general see O’Fahey R. S. The Darfur Sultanate. AHistory. London, 2008. Fig. 3. Sudanese (Beja) warriors at the turn of the 20th C.