Cleveland Museum of Art

Court Sword

Date

c. 1790

Medium

steel; silver hilt, polished and faceted; blade partially blued and gilded

Culture

England, London or Birmingham, late 18th Century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The hilt of this sword is finely finished with cut or faceted steel burnished to resemble cut stones. The neoclassical urn shape of the pommel was especially fashionable in England after 1780 up to the turn of the century. The upper portion of this blade is blued and gilded to provide a feel of great luxury. By the end of the 1700s, civilians no longer regularly wore swords nor used them as weapons. The court sword (or "small" sword as it was known in England) had become a piece of costume jewelry to be worn only with court dress or by military officers in dress uniform. The hilt and often the upper part of the blade became lavishly decorated as is illustrated by this example. The blue color on the blade was achieved by adding heat to the metal.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.