Small Sword (c. 1780): Art, History and Details

Small Sword (c. 1780) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

During the 1700s, the small-sword emerged as a light, quick weapon. Like the rapier it was carried by unarmored civilians, the noblemen of the upper classes. Over time this delicate sword became more an accessory of male attire than a weapon essential to life and death. The sword hilt, which shows even when the blade is sheathed, became the ground for elaborate decoration. These small-swords thus represent the final stage in the evolution of the sword, from the edged weapons of antiquity to the elegantly refined blades of the 1700s and 1800s.

Object facts

• Title: Small Sword
• Date: c. 1780
• Culture: France, Paris (?), 18th century
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: forged steel blade; partially gilt and russet steel hilt; steel wire, leather bands, wood core
• Dimensions: Overall: 103.5 cm (40 3/4 in.); Blade: 86.1 cm (33 7/8 in.); Guard: 8.3 cm (3 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1974.57

A detail from the museum

The fashion among gentleman for wearing small-swords with everyday attire began to wane by the end of the 1700s with the exception of the military dress sword.

Collection credit

Gift from the Bascom Little Estate

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1974." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 62, no. 3 (1975).
• Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.
• Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.

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.