Rapier, with mark on the blade. Italian, possibly Venetian. Conical pommel, lobed into five sections, each section carved into a series of upward overlaps. There is a strong well-shaped collar at the base. Grip of wood, bound with cord and covered with leather, with steel collars at top and bottom cut with vague acanthus shapes. Between these are baluster-shaped strips of steel which fit into grooves cut vertically into the wood core of the grip. Kunckle-guard, sharply out-turned at the top where it terminates in the head of an open mouthed and crested dragon's head. Halfway down, a counter-guard (loop-guard) runs diagonally downward to join the inside quillon. Just below the point from which this guard springs, the knuckle-guard goes into the mouth of another dragon's head. Vertically recurved quillons of oval section, each ending in dragons' heads en suite with those on the knuckle-guard. Well-formed cusped ecussons, with rather crudely carved floral decoration. Two branches of flat oval section. From the end of the outside branch, a short straight counter-guard projects forward, also ending in a dragon's head. From the end of the inside branch, a second smaller loop-guard joins the root of the back of the outside quillon. Each of these loop-guards has the same form as the knuckle-guard. Back-guard of two bars, the one a loop from the root of the back of the outside quillon to the end of the inside branch, the outer a short vertical bar joining the other back-guard. The end of this bar is carved into the form of a hand this loop-guard. Back-edge blade with an ill-defined ricasso and two narrow fullers running just over half-way down to the point.
There is a mark stamped on the ricasso on each side and a second one on each side of the blade.
J.S. Henderson Bequest
Length: 109.7 cm
Weight: 1.12 kg
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart
16th Century, Mid#
Circa
1530
-
1560
Italian, possibly Venetian
The style of the hilt, particularly the form and decoration of the grip, suggests a Venetian origin, for these are several swords in the Doges Palace Armoury (the sale di Name del couriglic dei Dieci) which have similarities of construction. There is a sword in the Musee de l'Armee in Paris with a hilt of similar form. The style of its decoration is different, but the pommels are identical. (INV. No.P.O.1876). These hilts are of a type 32 in the Vesey Norman typology, and the pommels of pommel-type 25.
This sword has a magnificent hilt, the grip still has its original binding and the guards of the hilt have serpent head finials giving it a swirling movement reminiscent of the play of a sword fight.
Sword
composed of
steel
Grip
Length 7.5 cm
Blade
Length 95.1 cm
Quillons
Width 15.5 cm
Blade At Hilt
Width 3 cm
Accession number: HEN.M.214-1933
Primary reference Number: 18933
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Rapier" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18933 Accessed: 2024-04-16 23:22:39
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18933
|title=Rapier
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-16 23:22:39|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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