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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Artwork Details
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Title:Rapier
Bladesmith:Meves Berns (German, Solingen, active early 17th century)
Date:ca. 1610–20
Geography:Solingen
Culture:German, Solingen
Medium:Steel, silver, copper
Dimensions:L. 47 5/16 in. (120.2 cm); L. of blade 41 in. (104.1 cm); W. 8 11/16 in. (22.1 cm); Wt. 2 lb. 13 oz. (1275.7 g)
Classification:Swords
Credit Line:Bequest of Col. Wickliffe P. Draper, 1972
Object Number:1973.27.5
Inscription: Inscribed on each side of the blade: I O H A N E S.
Marking: Stamped: a mark consisting of a stag within an oval with a pearled border (the mark of Meves Berns of Solignen).
Ex coll.: Theodore Offerman, NY
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of European Arms and Armor," August 3–September 27, 1931, no. 156 (lent by W. P. Draper).
New York. Brooklyn Museum. "Loan Exhibition of European Arms and Armor," June 12–October 31, 1933, no. 80 (lent by W. P. Draper).
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. 53.
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. 53.
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. 53.
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. 53.
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. 53.
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. 53.
Weyersberg, Albert. Solinger Schwertschmiede des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts und ihre Erzeungnisse. Solingen, Germany: Verein für Technik und Industrie, 1926. pp. 11–12, ill. (mark of Meves Bern_.
Grancsay, Stephen V. Loan Exhibition of European Arms and Armor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, August 3 to September 27, 1931. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. no. 156
.
Weyersberg, Albert. "Klingen mit der Inschrift MEVES PERNS (Fachnotizen)." Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen– und Kostümkunde, Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 13, n.s.v. 4 pp. 137–38.
Grancsay, Stephen V., and Brooklyn Museum. Loan Exhibition of European Arms and Armor. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, June–August 1933. no. 80
.
Nickel, Helmut. "Arms and Armor." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. p. 45.
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. 100–102, no. 53, ill.
Vello, Michele, and Fabrizio Tonin. "Pietro da Formegan, Spadaio Bellunese." Armi Antiche (2020), p. 48, n. 51.
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