Smallsword (c. 1730): Art, History and Details

Smallsword (c. 1730) 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: Smallsword
• Date: c. 1730
• Culture: France, Paris
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, blued, with gold encrusted decoration; chased and engraved; silver wire
• Dimensions: Overall: 94.5 cm (37 3/16 in.); Blade: 77.2 cm (30 3/8 in.); Grip: 13.2 cm (5 3/16 in.); Guard: 8 cm (3 1/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1097

A detail from the museum

The decorative design of the hilt was often carried down onto the blade, which could be chased or etched with designs, and gilded or blued as seen here.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], 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.
• 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.