A Pommel Motif

a rosette pattern

There is a spherical pommel chiselled with a deep, multi-lobed rosette pattern that I like. I saw this being used on some large two-handed swords, but its use on sideswords interests me. Maybe it reminds me of the segno (a pedagogical sign in Bolognese traditions that teaches students dynamic footwork, distance, measure, and the angles of attack), but I find this pattern a good match for cut-focused sideswords.

I don’t really have a lot of sources for its use, so I want to track the examples I found so far into one place. Maybe I’ll end up updating this page in the future, but for now, a short post.

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Gorgeous Unknown

This piece is an epitome of a superb sidesword that I know nothing about. All I have is this pic, found on a forum, used by Florian F. Fortner in a post in 2018. No other details whatsoever. I think it has a blunt back spine from the looks of it. Love the style of the hilt, grip and pommel in particular. I have no idea of its provenance.

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Czerny’s

Northern Italian sidesword, c.1530. Sold by Czerny’s Auction House. A close-up of the pommel shows that it is a bronze or brass type material. Cast? Brazed from two hollow hemispheres? I expect the latter, but I don’t know for sure. We do see it’s quite a spherical shape overall. I expected, and maybe I still prefer, a more flattened design.

TL: 108.5cm, BL: ~91.5cm, BW: ~3cm, GL: ~10cm, Pommel Height: ~5.5cm

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The Cleveland Museum of Art

Italian sidesword from c.1550. Leather grip, russetted hilt with short 6.3cm quillions. The provenance seems more trustworthy. I do think that this pommel works better with the round bar style for the quillons, side-ports, and knuckle bow. The pommel has a 4-4.5cm radius.

TL: 100cm, BL: 87cm, BW:~3cm, GL: 11.5cm

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Stibbert Museum

Except for being in Stibbert Museum, Florence, I don’t know anything else about these sideswords. I want to know more, but I don’t. I can speculate that there are early 1500s from the look. The pommel of interest looks to be a more elaborate or refined variation of the same motif. It counts as being the same for my interests.

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The Met

Italian shortsword, c.1500. I knew I have seen other such pommels.
TL: 79.4cm, BL: 66cm, Weight: 850.5g

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The Art Institute of Chicago

Italian shortsword, c.1490-1510. There a few almost identical in this style.
TL: 79.4cm, Weight: 907g

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That’s all for now. As I mentioned, I like this pommel used with round-bar forged hilts. I would pair these hilts with a long, broad and cut-focused blade. Multiple grip styles look to work really well with this combination. A sidesword style appropriate for the field of battle of the late 1400s, start of the 1500s.

I will add more if I find more, and post a note to let people know. I think there are some loose pommels kept in museums, but I lost track of them. Still, I am interested in complete swords to gauge the aesthetic better.