A RARE OTTOMAN BROADSWORD

16TH 17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE OTTOMAN BROADSWORD
16th 17th Century
With wide flat tapering European blade (some pitting, some damage to edges), each side with three fullers at the forte, the central one extending almost to the point and struck with 'twig' marks, the ricasso cut back for the index-finger, arched brass guard (cracked) engraved with flower-heads and arabesques on a dotted ground (worn), the quillons each terminating in a stylised bird's head, later wooden grips of karabella form cut with chevrons, and original wooden scabbard (originally covered with leather) cut with designs of longitudinal recessed bands and with pierced brass mounts (one band missing) retaining traces of gilding, the locket and chape (each incomplete) engraved with designs en suite with the guard
31½in. (80cm.) blade

Lot Essay

An Ottoman hilt of somewhat similar form but later date survives in the 'Türkenbeute' in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe. See Ernst Petrasch et al, Die Karlsruhe Türkenbeute, 1991, p. 184, cat. no. 126

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