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. 1580
Culture:Italian
Medium:Steel, silver
Dimensions:L. 51 1/2 in. (130.8 cm); L. of blade 45 1/2 in. (115.5 cm); W. 7 1/8 in. (18.2 cm); D. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); Wt. 2 lb. 13 oz. (1275.7 g)
Classification:Swords
Credit Line:Rogers Fund. 1904
Object Number:04.3.32
E. Vaïsse, Marseille (until 1885; Objets d'art et de haute curiosité...composant l'importante collection de M. E. Vaïsse de Marseille, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 5–8, 1885, no. 91, sold for Fr. 3,200, to Pujol for Dino); Charles Maurice Camille de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, Paris (1885–1904; sold to MMA).
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 15–March 18, 1953, no. 90.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 18–June 7, 1953, no. 90.
Pittsburgh. Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1953–April 1954, no. 90.
Brès, Louis. "Les Expositions Artistiques de Marseille." L'Art (1879), p. 73 (ill. this).
Ménard, René. Histoire Artistique du Métal. Paris: J. Rouam & Cie, 1881. p. 133, ill. (engraving of this sword, possibly with a different blade; no owner mentioned).
Hôtel Drouot. Objets d'art et de haute curiosité du Moyen-Âge, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes composant l'importante collection de M. E. Vaïsse de Marseille. Paris: Hôtel Drouot, May 5–8, 1885. p. 10, Lot no. 91, ill.
Boeheim, Wendelin. Meister der Waffenschmiedekunst vom XIV. bis ins XVIII. Jahrhundert. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kunst und des Kunsthandwerks. Berlin: W. Moeser, 1897. pp. 27–28 (for information on Pietro Caino).
Cosson, Charles Alexander. Le Cabinet d'Armes de Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1901. p. 60, no. F.17 (this rapier described; called Italian, second half of XVI century).
Grancsay, Stephen V. Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1953. p. 25, no. 90.
Johann Bongen (German, Solingen, active 17th century)
ca. 1650–75
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