Inventory

Rapier

Full Description:

An Indian cup-hilted rapier fitted with a European blade. The uncommonly large spirally fluted pommel has traces of silver and is surmounted by an oversized bell-shaped finial that sits on a four-stage arrangement of decorative washers. The waisted grip rests in a cup-shaped hand guard, which is secured to a long, imported Solingen rapier blade. A pair of blade straps with extending quillons secure the triply grooved blade. Inscribed in the central groove is the name of the bladesmith, Wilhelm Tesche. The Wallace collection in London has a European rapier with a blade also made by Wilhelm Tesche. The date they attribute to their sword is c.1620-c.1635.¹

Two other spirally pommelled examples similar to the one in discussion are currently known to us. The first is published by Ricketts/Missillier.² The author notes that spirally decorated pommels were fashionable in Europe on swept-hilted rapiers during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and on Iranian daggers in an earlier period. The author adds that cup-guards show similarities to Italian cup hilts of the mid seventeenth century.

The second example is in the Metropolitan Museum and was published by Robert Elgood.³ It should be noted that there is a typographical error in the Elgood book. The actual accession number is: 36.25.1424.⁴ All three swords have sizable cup shaped guards, spirally fluted pommels and Solingen blades. Elgood points out that the presence of a kirtimukha on both the MET and Ricketts/Missillier examples suggest that they are Hindu. No such protective symbol exists on the one in focus here, but the three swords still belong to the same small group and shouldn’t be confused with a similar sword in the collection of Roy Elvis (1944-2022), which shares the same overall form but lacks the defining spiral pommel.⁵

Provenance

Private collection USA

References