Small Sword (1700s): Art, History and Details

Small Sword (1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The small-sword was a civilian thrusting weapon customarily worn by well-to-do gentleman in civilian dress during the weapon's heyday in the 1700s, and were later worn on formal or court occasions. They were traditionally suspended at about mid-thigh from the left side of the belt, the gilt exposed through an opening in the gentleman's coat. Since it was highly visible it was subject to lavish decoration with precious materials and fashions came and went. Many were decorated to match personal costume and were truly an emblem of social rank.

Object facts

• Title: Small Sword
• Date: 1700s
• Culture: France
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, copper alloy inlays; wood grip with steel wire
• Dimensions: Overall: 90.7 cm (35 11/16 in.); Blade: 77.2 cm (30 3/8 in.); Quillions: 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1096

A detail from the museum

The banded pattern on the hilt was achieved by carefully winding wire over a wooden core. The result was a handle with a textured surface that improved the user's grip.

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: The 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.