Collection record · Objects & craft
Rapier
The collection record classifies this work as arms and armor. It is dated c. 1650. Recorded culture or place: Spain.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Rapier
- Date
- c. 1650
- Culture / origin
- Spain
- Materials and technique
- steel, pierced and chiseled, leather and wood grip
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 13 cm (5 1/8 in.); Overall: 105.6 cm (41 9/16 in.); Blade: 99.5 cm (39 3/16 in.); Quillions: 29.6 cm (11 5/8 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1916.1811
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
The rapier was a sword worn with civilian dress and used in duels. The term rapier derives from a 16th-century French word rapière, which in turn derived from the Spanish espada ropera, or “dress sword.” The rapier was a light weapon with a straight double-edged and pointed blade that, with the development of the art of fencing in the 1500s and 1600s, gradually became narrower and lighter, and thus suitable for thrusts only. With the new technique of swordplay emphasizing the point of the blade, sword guards became more complex to protect the duelist’s unarmored hand. These elaborate guards were frequently decorated by various techniques—chiseling, bluing, russeting, and damascening.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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