A gold and enamel locket bangle

Maker's mark 'FK', St. Petersburg, late 19th century

Footnotes

Provenance
Mehmet Fazil Pasha Dagestani
Thence by descent

The bracelet is applied with four medallions set with bust length photographs:
1. A Goretz youth in traditional Caucasian mountaineer's tall hat and fine Circassian coat with precious weapons (note the dagger handle and pistol).
2. A middle aged woman wearing a dark shawl over the shoulders of a fine "Kabalay" dress.
3. A middle aged man in traditional dress of the North Caucasus wearing a tall fur hat (according to late 1850's and early 1860's fashion), a dark Circassian coat with a long row of narrow cartridge shells, centred by a dagger hilt.
4. The famous portrait of the white bearded Imam Shamil 1868-69.

The young man depicted in one of the original photographs was a native from the Dagestani village of Choh (in North Caucasus) and was the son of Avar Uzden Davudilav. The sitter, Muhammad-Fazil Davudilov, was also known as Magoma Daudilov, Muhammad Fazil Pasha Daghestanli (1853-1916), later an officer of the Imperial Guard of Alexander II, an adjutant of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Marshal of the Turkish Army. His incredible life story can be traced through this bracelet.

The Turkish writer and youngest daughter of Muhammad-Fazil, Haddouch Fazil Daghestanli, published some family photographs in her father's memoirs entitled: "The Life of a Hero" (first published in Russian in the magazine "Our Dagestan" in 1995 (Nos. 176-177), translated by A. Murtuzaliev as "Warrior's Life". The illustrations included full-length photographs used as medallions in the bracelet which may have belonged to Muhammad-Fazil, as the man and woman portrayed in the other medallions are his father, Davudilav, and mother, Umukusum.

The unusual destiny of an ordinary boy from a Dagestani mountain village seemed predetermined. His father Davudilov joined Shamil's army in 1841 and in 1859, following the Caucasian War and Shamil's capture in Dagestan, Imam was sent to Saint Petersburg to meet Emperor Alexander II. Afterwards, he was exiled to Kaluga which was then a small town near Moscow. His associate Davudilov, who remained loyal to Shamil was accepted into the Russian service and, having received the rank of ensign, served for many years in the Dagestani military administration. In 1865 his youngest daughter Kistman married Shamil's son Gazimuhhamad and then moved to Kaluga. In 1869, her brother Muhammad-Fazil visited Kistman in Kaluga. Two years later he joined His Imperial Majesty's personal escort.

From 1869-1876, Mahammud-Fazil, known in the Russian Empire as Magoma Daudilov, served in St. Petersburg. In January 1870 he was promoted to the highest order by the cadets in August 1873, to the ensigns of the militia (with the gold medal on the ribbon of the order of St Anne to be worn around his neck), and seconded in September 1874 to the 2nd platoon (mountaineers) Leib Guards of the Caucasian squadron. In spite of the prospect of a brilliant military career, just before the Russian-Turkish war he resigned in 1876. In a petition addressed to Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich in August 1876, he wrote: "My home circumstances deprive me of the opportunity to continue serving your Imperial Majesty ...". (Resignation document of M. Davudilov, CG VIA F.970, OP, D. 1269, P.2-3.) After resigning from the Russian military service, Muhammad-Fazil permanently moved to Istanbul. He joined his sister Habibat (Kistaman), the wife of Gazimuhammad, who had lived there for three years.

At first glance, the Military career of Muhammad-Fazil, known in Turkey as Muhammad Fazil Pasha Dagestanli progressed successfully. With the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war (April 1877), Muhammad-Fazil became one of the youngest military leaders of the Ottoman army, aide-de-camp of the Sultan and deputy commander of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade of the Mukhajir-North Caucasians. This brigade was commanded by Gazimuhammad, the son of Imam Shamil. Following the Russian-Turkish war in 1878, Muhammad-Fazil became the personal adjutant of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II.

In the early 1880s, Gazimuhammad and Muhammad Fazil Pasha became targets of an anti-government plot, were arrested and exiled permanently: Gazimuhammed to Medina, Muhammad Fazil Pasha to Aleppo, Syria (Haddouch Fazil Daghestanli, "The Life of a Hero" (first published in Russian in the magazine "Our Dagestan" in 1995 (Nos. 176-177). As a result of the personal bravery of Muhammad-Fazil he was awarded the rank of General, Pasha, and secured a pension. In February 1882, he was appointed to Baghdad as commander of the 6th Cavalry Army, and in June 1883, obtained the rank of Colonel-General, commander of the 16th Army.(B.R. Aliev, North Caucasian diaspora: history and contemporary processes), Makhachkala, 2001, p. 214)

From 1882 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he continued to serve in Iraq, from 1908 as Governor and Commander of Baghdad. Muhammad-Fazil was over sixty in 1914 when he was asked to join the army at the beginning of World War I. His request was approved and he was then appointed a cavalry commander.

General Al-Daghestani died in 1916, fighting the British army at Kut in the mid-Euphrates region, during the war to occupy Iraq. His funeral was attended by many dignitaries, from the deputy Wali (governor) of Baghdad to the new commander of the Ottoman Sixth Army as well as the several dozen officers and conscripted men who had served with him on military campaigns. He was immortalised in verse by two of Iraq's finest poets, Abdul-Wahhab Al-Na'ib and Jamil Sidqi Al-Zahawi.

We are grateful to Patimat Tanhaeva for her assisting in cataloguing this lot and providing a catalogue note.