These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.
Download this imageCreative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.
Production: Unknown
Long sword of cinquedea type, in excavated condition. The acutely arched cross, cusped at the ecusson, survives, but the plates of ivory (?walrus ivory) which formed the hilt are considerably perished. The arched cap of steel which would have formed the pommel is missing. Inlaid in the ivory grip are three small roundels of filigree work in latten.
History note: De Cosson Sale 14th May, 1929, lot 76
Length: 93.5 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart
15th Century-16th Century#
Circa
1490
CE
-
1510
CE
Italian, Venice
The type of sword, a very large variety of the cinquedea, is rare, but four other outstanding examples survive. The most important is the sword of Cesare Borgia, of 1493 (Rome, Casa Caetani); another, known as the Pucci sword on account of the arms upon the bronze pommel, was sold in same sale 14.5.29 (Sotheby's, second sale of the De Cosson Collection). Both these swords, though they have blades of the same form as the above, have conventional hilts with arched crosses and disc pommels. The other two examples have the same 'cinquedea' hilt, formed of plates of bone/ivory with filigree insets. One is in Naples (CA 3625) and the other, once in the Oakeshott collection, is now in private hands.
Blade
composed of
steel
Length 78.0 cm
Grip Inlay
composed of
ivory
Hilt
composed of
ivory
Blade At Hilt
Width 6.0 cm
Decoration
Casting (process) : Sword, cast, decorated with plate and inlaid ivory
Accession number: HEN.M.198-1933
Primary reference Number: 18889
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
Mirador deep zoom
IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Cinquedea" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18889 Accessed: 2024-12-26 17:23:29
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18889
|title=Cinquedea
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-26 17:23:29|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-18889
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa25/HEN_M_198_1933_281_29.jpg"
alt="Cinquedea"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Cinquedea</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...
