Italian 6-ring Rapier, ca. 1620

Description

In the first quarter of the 17^th Century, Italian swordsmiths made a number of rapiers with multi-ringed hilts. The number of rings generally was between four and seven, with seven being the most common. The iron bars that made up the rings were generally of round, rectangular, or oval section and also comprised the knuckle guard and quillons. This example features a 6-ring hilt of rectangular-section bars, with the main guard composed of six concentric rings expanding upward and outward from the bottom of the large pas d’ane. The opening encompassed by the smallest ring is fitted with an iron clamshell plate incised with lines and pierced with rectangular openings (minor damage). Vertically recurved quillons, expanding slightly toward the terminals. The uppermost ring has bars extending outward to join the reverse quillon on one side and the knuckle guard on the other on both the obverse and reverse sides. Spherical pommel with button; grip wrapped with fine twisted iron wire, finished with Turks heads top and bottom. Slender 47 1/4” (120 cm) blade of flattened hexagonal section with short central fuller, showing remains of an inscription and an incised running wolf mark on one side. Metal with dark brown rust patina, the blade moderately pitted, with several edge nicks. Overall length 52 1/4” (133 cm).