The rapier was the principal civilian sidearm throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Designed for cut-and-thrust fencing of progressively complex techniques, the rapier is characterized by a double-edged blade with an acute point and an elaborate guard for the hand. The guards, usually of iron or steel, were subject to a variety of embellishment. They were engraved, chiseled, gilded, damascened, and encrusted in gold and silver in keeping with fashionable styles.
Unless otherwise noted, the materials, attributions, and dating given here refer to the hilts. Rapier blades, invariably of steel, bear a variety of maker’s marks denoting their origin in the two principal centers of blademaking, Toledo in Spain and Solingen in Germany.
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Title:Rapier
Date:ca. 1600–20
Culture:German
Medium:Steel
Dimensions:L. 48 in. (121.9 cm); L. of blade 41 3/4 in. (106.1 cm); W. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm); D. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); Wt. 3 lb. 3 oz. (1446.8 g)
Classification:Swords
Credit Line:Gift of Prince Albrecht Radziwill, by exchange, 1928
Object Number:28.100.3
Inscription: Inscribed (punched) within fuller on both sides of blade: ++ INVALEN+TIA++
Königliches Historisches Museum, Dresden (until 1924; returned to Prince Ernst Heinrich for the Verein Haus Wettin, Albertinischer Linie); Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony, as the legal representative of the Verein Haus Wettin, Albertinischer Linie, Moritzburg, Dresden (1924–27; sold to Dean); Bashford Dean, New York (1927; by exchange to MMA).
Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art. "The Splendor of Dresden: Five Centuries of Art Collecting," June 1, 1978–September 4, 1978.
Seattle, Wash. Seattle Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 11, 1982–June 6, 1982, no. 50.
Denver, Colo. Denver Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 18–October 10, 1982, no. 50.
San Antonio, Tex. Witte Museum of the San Antonio Museum Association. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 13, 1982–February 5, 1983, no. 50.
Minneapolis, Minn. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 24–July 31, 1983, no. 50.
San Francisco. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1983–January 28, 1984, no. 50.
Detroit, Mich. Detroit Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 4–June 17, 1984, no. 50.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "Swords from the Dresden Armory." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (February 1929), pp. 56–58, fig. 2.
Norman, A. V. B. The Rapier and Small-Sword, 1460–1820. London: Arms & Armour Press, 1980. p. 128 (hilt type 57, in use during the period c. 1585–1640, discussed, this Saxon group mentioned).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Helmut Nickel, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Leonid Tarassuk, and American Federation of Arts. The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Exhibition. New York: The Federation, 1982. pp. 96–97, no. 50, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V., and Stuart W. Pyhrr. Arms & Armor: Essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920–1964. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. pp. 41–43, fig. 13.1.
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