Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/316

 in line and proportion, and belongs to the type seen upon almost all the town-swords worn during the latter part of the XVIth and the first quarter of the XVIIth centuries. This type underwent slight modifications according to the period and country of origin; but all those swords which we shall class as town-swords possess approximately the same general constructional form. This weapon is as remarkable for the richness of its decoration, the perfection of its workmanship, and the taste and restraint of its ornamentation, as for its supreme elegance. Richer and more ornamented swords are in existence; but we know of none more attractive or more delicate in the method of its enrichment. The whole decoration consists of gold and silver designs incrusted and chiselled in relief on a stippled black ground. The pommel is hexagonal; the incrustations are divided into six compartments, presenting, alternately, trophies of arms, escutcheons amongst which are to be found that of the Albani family, and arabesques intermingled with animals. The iron grip, the quillons, and the counter-guards are all decorated with similar subjects. The blade has a long groove extending right up to the point, and the ricasso is decorated in the same manner as the hilt. It is interesting here to note that a fine wheel-lock pistol in the Wallace Collection (No. 808) has a russeted iron stock incrusted with gold and silver work which was certainly applied by the same hand that decorated the hilt of this rapier. It is assuredly of the French type, which strengthens our belief in its French provenance. Mr. Edward H. Litchfield of New York has also two pistols from the same workshop; while in the Royal Collection at Windsor is a partisan head, which is undoubtedly the work of the same armourer (No. 38 in the 1914 catalogue, Fig. 1416).

A German made hilt, constructed on the lines of the Courval sword hilt, is to be seen on that superbly mounted rapier preserved in the Royal Historical Museum, Dresden (Fig. 1352). Unlike so many of the magnificent arms at Dresden, it is not stated to have belonged in the past to any royal or noble personage, but from the almost exact resemblance which the work upon the hilt bears to that on a set of hunting implements, given by the Duke Albrecht of Bavaria to the Kurfürst Johann Georg II in the early years of the XVIth century, it is almost safe to conclude that this rapier formed part of the same gift. The author knows of no rapier hilt with this comparatively late class of chiselling to compare with this example for its refinement of workmanship and for its perfect condition. The foundation of the hilt is iron, chiselled with groups of fruit and flowers, together with masks and festoons of drapery, at intervals introducing panels containing figures