Parade Sword (c. 1500–1525): Art, History and Details

Parade Sword (c. 1500–1525) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This parade sword has a steel blade with etched and gilded bands of decoration. The decoration includes allegorical figures such as dancing satyrs and nymphs, amorini or cupids, and triumphs. The pommel, the rounded knob on the end of the handle, is flat and shaped like a shield; a raised rosette further embellishes it. The quillons or two transverse projecting members forming the cross guard, are flattened and drooping toward the blade.

Object facts

• Title: Parade Sword
• Date: c. 1500–1525
• Culture: Italy, Ferrara, early 16th Century
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, etched and gilded
• Dimensions: Overall: 101.9 cm (40 1/8 in.); Blade: 85.4 cm (33 5/8 in.); Quillions: 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in.); Grip: 11.1 cm (4 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.704

A detail from the museum

Ercole dei Fedeli was an Italian goldsmith and master sword engraver; his name appears on this blade.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 2, 16th century. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915].
• Rudolph Lepke’s Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin. R. Zschille’sche waffensammlung. Mar 21-22, 1900.
• 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.