Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/345



The hilt is probably of English workmanship, and of the closing years of the XVIth century. Collection: H.M. the King, Windsor Castle

have worked from about 1580 to 1630. The second (Fig. 1379) of the Windsor swords—which, too, is furnished with a blade made by Clemens Horn, though in this case it is back-edged—is No. 61 in the 1904 Catalogue. The hilt of this weapon follows the type more usually met with, a hilt with the solid pommel, large and spheroidal, and with diagonally curved quillons: but it presents the rare feature of the repetition of the guard on either side of the grip. The decoration is composed of acanthus foliage, introducing winged human shapes, swags of fruit and flowers, and scrollwork thickly incrusted in silver, on a groundwork that has been brilliantly blued and damascened with a true arabesque design in gold azzimina. The under surface of the bars is also blued and similarly damascened with arabesque designs. The grip is bound with silver wire, an XVIIIth-century addition.