Rapier

ca. 1700

Not on view

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.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Rapier
Date: ca. 1700
Culture: Italian
Medium: Steel, gold, copper wire
Dimensions: L. 43 1/2 in. (110.5 cm); L. of blade 35 3/4 in. (90.8 cm); W. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm); D. 5 in. (12.7 cm); Wt. 2 lb. 3 oz. (992.2 g)
Classification: Swords
Credit Line: Gift of William H. Riggs, 1913
Object Number: 14.25.1085
Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor

More Artwork

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian — Lobster-Tail Burgonet
North Italian
ca. 1610

Rapier, Steel, gold, copper wire, wood, Northern European, possibly Flanders — Rapier
Northern European, possibly Flanders
ca. 1620–30

Armor, Steel, copper alloy, textile, leather, Italian — Armor
Italian
ca. 1400–1450 and later

Rapier and Parrying Dagger, Juan Martinez Spanish, Steel, gold, copper wire, wood, velvet, German; rapier blade, Spanish, Toledo — Rapier and Parrying Dagger
Bladesmith Rapier blade signed by Juan Martinez
ca. 1580

Sea Dragon, Wood, brass, gilding, Italian — Sea Dragon
Italian
17th century

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