Silapa Sword (1700s–1800s): Art, History and Details

Silapa Sword (1700s–1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The exceptionally thin, curved blade is made of watered steel. The grooves, called fullers, allowed for weight reduction and prevented flexion. The costly hilt is fully overlaid with brass in steel, both inside and outside the knuckle.

Object facts

• Title: Silapa Sword
• Date: 1700s–1800s
• Culture: India
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: gold with inlay and leather
• Dimensions: Overall: 92.7 cm (36 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1930.705.a

Collection credit

Gift of S. D. Wright

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Part II. Fifteenth Annual Report of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1930.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 18, no. 2, 1931, pp. 1–128.

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.