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Presentation Sword

Hilt by an unidentified goldsmith, mounted by the workshop of Veuve Guilmino, Versailles
1780
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
In 1780 Louis XVI presented this sword to John Paul Jones, a Scottish-born seaman and one of the founders of the American Navy, after he defeated the fifty-gun British frigate Serapis. References to the donor and the recipient decorate the pommel and grip—among them the French coat of arms; reeds; the figures of Neptune; Mars, and Minerva; military motifs; and emblems of the Franco-American Alliance.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Presentation Sword
  • Maker: Hilt by an unidentified goldsmith, mounted by the workshop of Veuve Guilmino, Versailles
  • Date: 1780
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Sword: partly blued steel, gold hilt; scabbard: black-painted leather and gold; case: wood covered with morocco leather with gold tooling and lined with chamois; brass
  • Dimensions: Sword: 39 3/4 in. (101 cm)
    Scabbard: 33 in. (83.8 cm)
    Carrying case: 3 1/2 × 4 1/2 × 41 in. (8.9 × 11.4 × 104.1 cm)
  • Classification: Swords
  • Credit Line: US Naval Academy Museum
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts