Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/115

 Through these plaques are pierced three circular apertures, each filled with brass tracery of Moorish design. The blade, which is 18-3/4 inches long, and 3-7/8 inches wide at the hilt, has four hollows for 3-1/2 inches of its length, and three hollows for 4-1/2 inches of its length, and is doubly grooved for the remaining 10 inches. Etched upon the base of the blade on either side are compositions of figures chosen from classical mythology; while above these is a band of scrollwork introducing medallion portrait busts in the centre. The scabbard, which retains some of the crimson velvet lining, is of cuir bouilli, slightly embossed and tooled with a lace cinquecento ornamentation, into which is introduced a circular panel containing a shield charged with the arms of the Petrucci of Siena. On one face is a sheath made for holding a small knife. This weapon must have been one of great beauty when in its original condition; though it is now sadly over-cleaned. The quillons, now of brightened iron, show traces of original gilding; the pommel has upon it, cast in low relief, figures of young children, Verrocchio-like in their treatment, and down the sides of the grip runs the following inscription:

The blade has obviously been re-gilded, probably early in the XIXth century. By good fortune the fine cuir bouilli sheath belonging to this cinquedea was found early in 1901 in a chamber in the Round Tower, together with a number of XVIIIth century sword sheaths that had apparently not been touched since their removal to Windsor Castle from Carlton House.

Among other well-known examples of the cinquedea in England we may mention one to be seen at Eastnor Castle, a good if somewhat over-cleaned specimen, still retaining its cuir bouilli sheath; another in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle, with a finely etched blade, good grip and pommel, but with quillons that have been redecorated; and a very splendid weapon, differing in the medium of its decoration, which was formerly in the collection of Lord Carmichael (Fig. 855). The grip of this last-named example is of wood, overlaid with plaques of silver decorated with niello work, representing on one side the bust of a Roman Emperor enclosed in circles, around which are children's heads and arabesques, with a label beneath lettered, apparently intended for "Hadrianus Imperator." On the reverse side the copper and the silver have been torn away, perhaps to remove the owner's arms. The grip is formed of a double cone, flattened, with eight facets; on those of the front and back, which are broader than the rest, are musical and other small instruments in niello work; on the lesser facets are arabesques in a like medium. The drooping