Basket-hilt broadsword and sheath
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Broadsword (Schiavona) with blackened iron basket hilt. Shield-shape pommel with small arch at upper centre, bearing an encrusted silver foliate mask surrounded by flowers and leaves. Wooden grip covered with black leather. Hilt formed of many flat bars fanning out towards pommel, with some diagonal bars and some C- shaped spacing bars, all encrusted with simple silver flowers, leaves and lines. Broad double-edged blade with two central gutters. Leather sheath over wood, with brass and iron reinforcing strips. Upper section bound with plaited leather thongs.
Broadswords with basket hilts were made from the 16th to the 18th centuries in Venice. Probably made in the mid-18th century, the decoration on this sword was added in the 19th century when the hilt was also slightly altered. It was acquired as a 16th-century example by Alice de Rothschild in September 1908, amongst one of her first purchases of arms from two London dealers.
This is a typical example of a broadsword known as a 'schiavona'. These swords were derived from weapons carried by eastern European mercenaries ('schiavoni' is Old Italian for 'Slavs') hired to fight for Spain and the Republic of Venice. Some were made very plain, whilst others were richly decorated with chiselling and gilding.
An entrepreneurial dealer must have added the silver encrusted decoration on the hilt sometime in the 19th century. The style of the decoration is of around 1615, much too early for the form of the sword, and it is also uncharacteristic for a schiavona. For some reason before the decoration was applied, the quillons were bent into different positions, perhaps to hide damage or improve the look of the sword. This indicates the decoration was applied long after the sword had a functional purpose. During the 19th century, collectors developed a taste for highly decorated arms and armour that could be displayed as part of an art collection. Dealers such as Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890) employed a number of craftsmen to embellish weapons using historic techniques (see acc. no. 3467).
Recently discovered receipts show that Alice de Rothschild bought this sword from the London-based German antique dealers J & S Goldschmidt in September 1908. This was the first purchase of arms she made from the firm, although she had been buying items, particularly Sèvres porcelain, from the firm since at least 1904. She bought this broadsword along with another basket-hilted sword (acc. no. 5109), 1 gun, 7 other swords, 2 daggers, 1 knife and 4 powderflasks, for a grand total of £1,200. Both basket-hilted swords were described as 16th-century in date. In Alice's inventory of 1922, it is listed as being from the mid 16th-century.
The receipts show that between July 1908 and 1913, Alice bought a whole range of arms from two London firms, J & S Goldschmidt and the Durlacher Bros. In some of her more presitigious purchases, Alice was guided by Sir Guy Laking (1875-1919), Keeper of the Royal Armouries. She appears not to have bought at auction but preferred to work with antique dealers, most probably on the advice of experts such as Laking. Laking probably knew that many of Alice's purchases were not completely genuine articles, but was motivated by financial gain not to reveal them (see Claude Blair, 'Crediton: The Story of Two Helmets', in "Studies in European Arms and Armor: The C. von Keinbusch Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art" (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1992), pp. 169-171).
Phillippa Plock, 2014
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
1130 x 142 x 107; 1120 x 142 x 107 (sword); 952 x 41 (blade); 951 x 60 x 23 (sheath); weights 1850g., 1450g. (sword), 400g. (sheath)
Marks
xxx
xxx
Maker's mark
[on each face of blade, near hilt]
Provenance
- Acquired by Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922) from J&S Goldschmidt, London, on 11 September 1908 along with 7 swords, 1 gun, 2 daggers, 1 knife and 4 powderflasks for £1200 (AR104); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957
Bibliography
- Claude Blair, Anthony Blunt; The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Arms, Armour and Base-Metalwork; Fribourg; Office du Livre; 1974; pp. 78-79, cat. no. 20