Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/328



Spanish, middle of the XVIth century. Wallace Collection (Laking Catalogue, No. 671)

a vase-shaped pommel and a pilaster-shaped grip; the quillons, which are of oval section, are diagonally curved and terminate in heads like that of the pommel. The whole hilt is decorated with a spirited design of small vases, leafwork, and interlaced scrolls damascened in gold. The blade is unusual, and has on either cutting edge a waved appearance, lent to it by both edges being chamfered in semicircles, the chamfering being placed alternately on either side. The portrait of Philip II by Titian in the Prado, Madrid (Fig. 1364) shows the King girt with such a hilted sword; the period in which this style of hilt was fashionable was the third quarter of the XVIth century. Other sword hilts of this same type are to be seen in the Royal Armoury, Madrid. Another form of purely Spanish hilt, this time of the complicated rapier type, is also to be seen in the same armoury (Fig. 1365). Here the pommel is fluted and cone-shaped, and the ends of the quillons and counter-guards have a similar decoration. The hilt in this instance has been made for the fine broad blade