Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/120

 an Italian, or to be more precise, Brescian, rather than an Austrian or German influence. The constructional features of these hilts are an oviform pommel, the grip and the knuckle-guard parallel to the single down-curved quillon, and possibly a ring or a single counter-guard; but a bizarre appearance is lent to the whole hilt by the unusual scheme of ornamentation employed in the enrichment. The hilt we illustrate from the collection of Mr. S. J. Whawell (Fig. 1516) is a very characteristic example of the decoration to which we refer. It contains duplicated friezes and small overlapping leafwork, seeding pods, etc.; these are pierced à jour, which, viewed generally, give the hilt an almost Oriental richness, making it resemble the spear blade sockets of Burmese Hak, or other weapons of the Malay Archipelago. Sometimes we find such hilts plated with silver, or fashioned in the medium of bronze gilt.

As a final group of sword hilts coming within the last quarter of the XVIIth century, we will illustrate a few representative examples of the "small" or court swords, which, worn almost universally throughout the XVIIIth century, are here shown in their earliest type, and so must be classed with the weapons of the latter part of the XVIIth century. As we have said, the shapes of these hilts appear to have been derived from the French flamberge, the duelling sword of the earlier years of the XVIIth century. In the XVIIIth century the form of the hilt remained the same; but it became smaller, and the pas-d'âne disappeared until such a hilt as we see on the modern court sword resulted. We are able to give, however, an illustration of a hilt which is an intermediary link. It is on the sword which was formerly in the collection of Napoleon III at Pierrefonds, but which was placed in the Musée d'Artillerie of Paris in 1882 (Fig. 1517). This sword, according to tradition, was worn by Louis XIV, in the year 1649-50. Apart from its chiselled decoration which introduces the fleur-de-lis, the dolphins, and the cockle shells from the collar of St. Michael, motifs only allowed to be employed by the royal house of France, the form is most interesting because, though constructionally it resembles even the latest of the XVIIIth century court swords, the individual parts are larger. The pommel is almost the same as can be seen on the flamberge; while the shell takes the form of a shallow cup as yet not broken in its outline so as to form a separate shell on either side of the hilt. The pas-d'âne is still strongly marked. This sword, to accord with the history relating to it, must be regarded as dating towards the closing years of the middle of the XVIIth century when the King was but a youth. The type of blade in the hilt is wide and heavy; but at the period in which it was made bayonet-sectioned blades, light and tapering,