Cup-Hilted Rapier (c.1610–30): Art, History and Details

Cup-Hilted Rapier (c.1610–30) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Cup-Hilted Rapier
• Date: c.1610–30
• Culture: Italy, possibly Milan
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, pierced, chased and chiseled; wire ferrules on leather-covered wood grip
• Dimensions: Overall: 123.2 cm (48 1/2 in.); Blade: 100.9 cm (39 3/4 in.); Quillions: 25.2 cm (9 15/16 in.); Grip: 11.8 cm (4 5/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.706

A detail from the museum

Over time the blade of a rapier became longer, based on a belief that a longer blade made it easier to hit one's adversary and, at the same time stay beyond the reach of his weapon.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Christie, Manson & Woods, London. Works of art, from the Byzantine period to that of Louis Seize. Mar 5-Apr 30, 1855.
• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 2, 16th century. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915].
• Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.