Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/116

 quillons and the arch-shaped pommel of gilded bronze are decorated with arabesques of foliage interspersed with shields in relief. The blade, 20-1/2 inches long, has been finely etched and gilt; but as seen to-day it has suffered from being allowed to rust and then from too rigorous cleaning. This fine weapon which, by the way, is almost duplicated by one (H 7) in the Royal Armoury, Turin, was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1901.

Several, though not very marked, variations in the form of the cinquedea's grip are to be met with. The beautiful weapon in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, first mentioned in the 1685 catalogue of that museum, shows a slight difference in the shape of the tang plate of the blade, the difference being the presence of projections on either side of the base of the pommel (Fig. 856). In the case of this example the grip plaques are of mother-of-pearl bound with silver. The face of the pearl is deeply grooved at the edge, and on each face are circular apertures inlaid with tracery; while on the silver bands which conceal the edge of the blade tang are inscriptions.

The pommel and grip overlaid with silver decorated with niello North Italian, about 1490-1500 Ex collection: Lord Carmichael

The quillons droop over the blade, and are of rectangular section, each face being inlaid with a tracery design in corded filigree wire of gilded copper. Like the grip, they are bound with silver, which in one place is inscribed with what is apparently the name of the maker: In the centre of the quillons, lying flat over the blade, is the head of a cherub in copper gilt. The blade is much rubbed; but sufficient of the etching remains to show that it has been one of great beauty.