Cleveland Museum of Art

Rapier

Date

c. 1580–1610

Medium

steel, ribbed guard and pommel; wood and wire

Culture

Blade: Spain, Toledo Hilt: Italt, Belluno?, late 16th-early 17th Century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The rapier was a sword worn with civilian dress and used in duels. The term rapier derives from the 16th-century French word rapière , which in turn derived from the Spanish espada ropera , or “dress sword.” The rapier was a light weapon with a straight double-edged and pointed blade that, with the development of the art of fencing in the 1500s and 1600s, gradually became narrower and lighter, and thus suitable for thrusts only. With the new technique of swordplay emphasizing the point of the blade, sword guards became more complex to protect the duelist’s unarmored hand. These elaborate guards were frequently decorated by various techniques—chiseling, bluing, russeting, and damascening. During this time fencing academies were already in existence in Milan, Venice, Verona, and Madrid, and the rules of fencing evolved with two styles dominating, the Spanish and the Italian.

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