This dagger and scabbard probably dates from the reign of the Mughal emperor Alamgir (r. 1658-1707) when hilts made of nephrite jade, often with pommels in the form of animal heads, were particularly popular. This dagger with a horse-head pommel of nephrite set with rubies in gold came from the famous collection of Indian hardstones formed by Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie, who had served in India from 1828 to 1857. He sold part of his collection, including this piece, to the Indian Museum in 1868. In 1879 a large part of the Indian Museum collection was transferred to the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum). The Indian Museum's very sparse surviving acquisition papers mention in passing that Guthrie bought pieces from the royal collections in Delhi and Lucknow, and from the Sikh treasury, all of which were being broken up and dispersed while he was in India, but no attempt seems to have been made to establish which pieces may have come from which source. Guthrie died in 1874 and the rest of his collection was sold at auction at Christie's London.