Details
Another
Circa 1550-60
Closely similar in form and construction to the previous lot, and clearly from the same workshop, but differing in details of the decoration: the applied tips of the quillons formed as wreaths of fruit and flowers, the grip-ferrule with female masks, the tip of the knuckle-guard formed as a ram's-horn helmet, the pommel as an eagle's head, and the iron parts, including the ricasso of the blade, damascened with gold arabesques throughout (slightly rubbed), in wooden scabbard covered with green velvet (rubbed) with iron mouth-locket and chape, the former with two fixed staple-shaped belt attachments, damascened en suite with the hilt, the lock mechanism with an additional catch on the inner side, probably a safety-catch, and not fitted with a locking-catch for the lid over the mechanism (trigger and pan-cover buttons missing)
27 in. (68.6 cm.) blade
Provenance
Rothschild inv. no. AR3381a.
Literature
B. Thomas, O. Gamber and H. Schedelmann, Arms and Armour, Masterpieces by European Craftsmen from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century, London, 1964, no. 41.
Hans Schedelmann, Die Grossen Bchsenmacher, Brunswick, 1972, pp. 10-11, pl. 17.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Fhrer durch die Sammlungen, Vienna, 1988, p. 410.
O. Gamber and C. Beaufort, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien. Katalog der Leibrstkammer, II, Busto Arsizio, 1990, p. 183.
W.E. Flewett, 'Leonardo, the Goldsmith, and the "Playthings of Princes"', Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, London, XVI, no. 1, September 1988, pp. 34-39 and 49-50, pl. 12.
Exhibited
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. no. A 2249, from 1967.

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