Partisan (1600s): Art, History and Details

Partisan (1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The partisan, a staff weapon with a symmetrical head, was carried by infantry officers and members of princely bodyguards during the 1600s and 1700s. The large flat surface of the partisan was perfect for displaying coats of arms and with the addition of colorful velvet tassels, was a favored weapon of palace guards who would be splendidly outfitted.

Object facts

• Title: Partisan
• Date: 1600s
• Culture: France
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, gilt, etched and chiselled
• Dimensions: Overall: 209.5 cm (82 1/2 in.); Blade: 32.4 cm (12 3/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.33

A detail from the museum

A partisan is a type of polearm that consisted of a spearhead mounted on a long shaft, usually wooden, with protrusions on the sides which aided in parrying sword thrusts.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 4, 17th to 19th century and a few pieces of iron work. [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: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.
• Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.

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.