Basket-Hilt Rapier

Description The basket shape of the hilt completely encloses the hand in a system of connected, curving bars that extend from the guard to the pommel. The blade is exceptionally long, with a flattened diamond section that turns to a hexagonal section, and is deeply grooved at the hilt. The blade is marked "Marson," presumably the maker. The same mark was found on a rapier carried by Gustav II Adolph, king of Sweden during the Thirty Years War (1618-48).

Exhibitions

• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.

Provenance Duca d'Aosta; Henry Griffith Keasbey, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, American Art Association, New York, November 27-28, 1925, no. 104; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925