13 A Gold and Silver-Gilt Pandan Taken at the Siege of Seringapatam
18 th century
14 A Very Fine Pair of Locks in the Versailles Taste, c. 1775 – 80
16 A Hunting-Sword and Scabbard, with Amber and Silver-gilt Hilt c. 1682 – 96/7
17 A Silver-Hilted Small-Sword made for a Child, in the Rococo Fashion, together with Scabbard c. 1770 – 80
18 A Very Rare Spontoon-Partisan with the Arms of Andreas Jacob Graf von Dietrichstein dated 1749
19 An Indian Saddle Axe Head, or Tabarzin early 18 th century
15 A Finely Carved Hunting Horn, by A. V. Lebeda c. 1850
20 A Persian Dagger or Khanjar late 18 th century
A
Viking Silver Amulet Pendant in the Form of Mjollnir or Thor’s Hammer
10 th century
Scandanavia. Gold, silver
4.5 cm / 1.75 in (overall length)
Provenance
From a south German private collection through inheritance; acquired on the Munich art market before 1980
£ 26,000
Cast in the form of Mjollnir or Thor’s hammer, and decorated with interlacing designs on the head, a plain silver haft and a stylised face synonymous with an example found on the prow of the Oseberg Ship on the terminal, also acting as a suspension loop.
A Luristan Bronze Short Sword
1000 B.C.
Luristan, Iran. Bronze, iron.
67.8 cm × 70.8 cm
26.7 in × 27.9 in
Provenance
Private collection, United Kingdom
£ 8,500
With tapering iron blade, the bronze hilt with waisted elliptical guard surmounted by an anthropomorphic head shaped handle, surmounted by two discs and and a crescentic bifurcated pommel.
Iran is very rich in metal ores and has had an unbroken tradition of metal working for at least 7000 years. This sword demonstrates the early use of iron for weapons in Luristan.
A Medieval Knightly Long Quillon-Dagger
c. 1400 – 1450
Northwestern Europe. Steel, copper alloy (latten)
57 cm / 22.4 in (overall length)
Provenance
Private collection, USA
£ 9,500
Another dagger of very similar form and of identical proportions is discussed by Clive Thomas in his ‘Additional Notes on the Swords of Castillon’ (pub. 2012). Thomas observes that despite the sword-like appearance and as such, its suggestively youthful proportions, that it is the adult-sized length of the grip (originally of wood and leather) and the sharply tapering blade, of robust diamond-section, which together confirm that this is a dagger intended for punching through an adversary’s mail.
A Harness Pendant
13 th – 15th century
Spain. Copper alloy, gold and enamel. (2630)
8.8 cm × 7.1 cm
3.5 in × 2.8 in
Provenance
Private collection, France
£ 5,000
The shield here depicts four red bars or palets on a gold background, the Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Aragon.
A Fine Medieval Casket
late 15th century
Spain. Wood, leather, iron
16.5 cm × 23 cm
6.5 × 9 in
Provenance
Christies, March 18 th, 1918, lot 136
Private collection, UK
£ 38,000
Of wood, covered with leather tooled with inscriptions in late Gothic motifs. It is most elaborately mounted with iron. Bordered by at architectural frame and lock escutcheon of multi-pinnacled form.
The Cover Binding-Plates from a Book made for the Personal Court Library of the Saxon Elector
Johann Georg I (r. 1611-56)
c. 1635 – 56
Germany, Dresden or Leipzig. brass, gold 56 cm × 41.5 cm / 22 in × 16.3 in
Provenance
The Saxon Electoral Library, Dresden. Most probably included among the many state-sanctioned dispersal sales from the Saxon Electoral collections which began in the 19th century and continued following the dissolution of the Saxon monarchy in 1919. Private collection, USA
£ 45,000
Comprising a large principal plate together with much smaller subsidiary plate forming the base of the design. Intended to face the entire surface of a book cover, this Baroque pattern of pierced and engraved interlaced scrolling tendrils and flowers is reminiscent of the original designs of vine interlace produced by Caspar Meuser (1550-1593), Court Bookbinder to the Electors of Saxony. A fine comparative tooled and gilt example of his work produced in 1578 is in the British Library (Shelf mark C108D29).
The present pattern also recalls quite closely the iron scabbard facing plate of the hunting trousse made for the Elector Johann Georg in 1619, by the Dresden goldsmith Michael Botza (d. 1633): Historisches Museum, Dresden (M262).
The period to which the present plate is ascribed is determined by the inclusion of the respective arms of the Margraviates of both Upper and Lower Lusatia. The formed was acquired by the Saxon Electorate in 1635, through the terms of the Peace of Prague, ending Saxon participation in the Thirty Years’ War. Lower Lusatia was re-acquired by the electorate in the same year.
The present plate carries the arms and their crests of nine Saxon Electoral territories, in addition to the crested arms of the Duchy of Saxony and those of the hereditary Archmarshalship of the Holy Roman Empire. Each of the arms is labelled by the letters which provide a German abbreviation of the title.
Clockwise on the plate the arms are those of: 1. The Duchy of Jülich combined with the County of Marck, 2. The Margraviate of Meissen, 3. The Duchy of Berg, 4. The Palatinate of Thuringia, 5. The Margraviate of Lower Lusatia, 6. The Margraviate of Upper Lusatia, 7. The Palatinate of Saxony, 8. The Duchy of Kleve, 9. The Landgraviate of Thuringia, 10 The Duchy of Saxony. The arms of The Archmarshalship of the Empire are placed at the centre.
The arms are those of the Saxon Electorate, those of the Archmarshallship of the HRE and those of the provinces of the Saxon Electorate.
A Small Deluxe Casket
mid-17th century
France. Wood, leather, iron, gold, textile.
14.5 × 14 cm
5.70 × 5.5 in
Provenance
Private collection, USA
Private collection, United Kingdom
£ 6,500
The highly decorative tooled and gilt treatment of the leather exterior of this small casket is linked directly to a luxuriously ornamented style of book binding which had developed in France, Italy and Spain by the mid-17th century. The relationship between these two seemingly diverse subjects was in fact entirely natural, requiring identical skills. Between lucrative book commissions a master bookbinder might easily turn his hand to the leather covering and tooling of a range of deluxe articles. In addition to table caskets, examples of this type of work produced in 17th century France include travelling writing cases and the cases of prized timepieces, compasses and scientific instruments.
The initial blind tooling of the calf or fine goat leather was achieved by means of a wide-ranging variety of design stamps, punches and other implements, each with the purpose of impressing a different motif, be it an individual fleur-de-lys or fleuron, a linear fillet or a larger segment of arabesque scrollwork. Complex symmetrical designs would be built up through the repeated application of these punched motifs. Following the blind tooling of the design the gilding was then applied in minute detail by the use of numerous finishing tools.
The leather covering of the present casket is lavishly decorated over each of its external upper surfaces, the designs all contained by a rectangular doublefilleted frame of border ornament, involving a chainlike arrangement filled with rosettes and other expanded flowers augmented by dots and scrolls. The corners are occupied by triangular arabesque designs of flowering tendrils, from which dotted linear rays project in a style referred to as ‘au pointillé’. The patterns covering the front, the rear and the sides involve a further oval arabesque in the centre of each, the ovals now entirely enclosed in splendour, ‘au pointillé’.
The pattern over the casket lid differs in that the central portion is occupied by the gilt-iron lifting handle on its decorative shaped plate. The remaining vacant field is tooled with small fleur-de-lys. The front of the casket is fitted with hook-and-eye closures and with the key escutcheon and its upper hasp, all of gilt-iron and the latter punched and pricked with scrollwork. A pair of gilt-iron hinges are fitted at the rear, each involving slender shaped brackets of giltiron and decorated en suite with the escutcheon and hasp at the front.
The full surface coverage of lace-like tooling amid an overall high concentration of detail all indicate that this casket was intended to contain objects of importance. Comparably, this high degree of tooled and gilt work would be reserved only for the most expensive book bindings.
French examples of bindings decorated in this manner exist onwards from about 1635-40. Parallel work also exists in Italian binding of the period, of which a good example is in the Princeton University Library. Published in Bologna in 1672, the designs covering the full surfaces of the boards display principles closely related to the work on the present casket: see Zani, Valerio, conte: Memorie, imprese e ritratti de’Signori Accademici Gelati di Bologna (Rare Books, ex, Call Number N7710. Z29).
A Japanese Saddle or Kura
dated 1661
Signed with kao, dated Kanbun ichinen kugatsu hi (a day in the 9 th month of 1661)
Japan. Hiramaki (gold), lacquer, wood 36 cm / 14.2 in (overall length)
Provenance
Takashi Yanagi, Kyoto, 1973
£ 18,000
The riding saddle fitted with two lacquered igi [wood side boards], maewa [pommel] and shizuwa [cantle] of yamagata [highly-seated; ‘mountainshaped’] form, the pommel with the two umi [‘sea’] and iso [‘shore’] registers almost evenly constructed, the seat decorated overall in polished black lacquer, the maewa and shizuwa each decorated in gold hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with two swallows (tsubame) in flight and juji [cross] mark.
Fitted with two black lacquered wood side boards (igi ), the present lot is of the typical form known as a suikan-gura, a civilian riding saddle named after the suikan, a light dress worn by the nobility. These types of saddle are of a wider fit to allow for a large saddle. Carved to each side of the pommel are low-shouldered hand-shaped (tegata) indentations. A cross-mark crest ( juji mon) is emblazoned to the centre of the pommel flanked by two swallow birds in flight. It is thought that this crest may have even derived from the shape of a horse’s bridle.
The origins of wood saddles with high pommel and cantle can be traced back to the Kofun period (circa 300-538 AD) and are present in depictions of haniwa horses from the same period. The form of this early saddle developed into the gunjin-gura, or campaign saddle, and suikan-gura, the most common types of cavalry saddle seen on the medieval battlefield. In the Edo period (1603-1868), marked by the unification of Japan, two centuries of peace and a closed border policy (sakoku), the latter style was adopted for formal use in samurai processions to and from Edo (sankin kotai ).
During these two centuries of national isolation, Japan was essentially held at a temporal standstill, rigorously adhering to its feudal system, whilst albeit cultivating knowledge of foreign lands through its tightly managed port cities.
Production of saddles was formalised – even the sixteenth century matchlock rifles with which the archipelago managed to deter the encroaching Christian missions were unerringly manufactured in the same manner by gunsmiths well into the nineteenth century. This internal peace permitted the preservation of medieval horse and other military accoutrements, successfully passed down generation to generation, even after continuous ceremonial use over the centuries, until the present day.
A Pair of Sword Cases or Katana-Zutsu with
Hoshi and Aoi Kamons
18 th – 19 th century
Edo¯ Period, Japan. Hiramaki, lacquer, wood and steel
Some minor conservation to the lacquer.
Tallest: 118 cm / 46.4 in (height on mount)
Shortest: 92 cm / 36.2 (height on mount)
Provenance
Private collection, United Kingdom
£ 14,000
A Japanese Indoor Archery Quiver
or Yadzutso
with Ten Arrows and a Decorated Stand
late 19 th century
Wood, lacquer, silk, leather, gold (hiramaki)
50 cm / 19.6 in (overall length)
Provenance
Private collection, United Kingdom
£ 12,000
The quiver is of lacquered leather and of characteristic form, decorated with a gilt Chinese Flowerr (karabana) mon, with its lid decorated en suite, fitted with leather straps with gilt borders for closure, and complete with its silk suspension cord and tassels, on its matching wooden stand.
A Large Pierced Japanese Arrowhead
c. 1650
Edo period, Japan. Steel
57 × 5.5 cm
22.4 in × 2.1 in
Provenance
Private collection, France
£ 16,500
This votive arrowhead, or yanone, is decorated in openwork with the incantation Nam myo¯ho¯ renge kyo¯ 南無妙法蓮華 経†of Nichiren 日蓮†Buddhism.
Its maker Minamoto Yoshinobu saku 源吉信作†Umetada 梅忠† school, Kyôto was active during the third quarter of the 17th century, and was particularly known for the quality of his horimono ( 彫刻 ).
Ceremonial arrowheads in this period of Japanese history were part of a traditional practice known as ‘Yaoya,’ in which gifts were exchanged between feudal lords, samurai, and other elites. The arrowheads were often exquisitely crafted and adorned, serving as tokens of honor and allegiance.
During the Edo period (1603 - 1868), Japan experienced a period of relative peace and stability under the Tokugawa shogunate. With warfare less frequent, focus shifted from military prowess to the cultivation of artistic and cultural pursuits. Ceremonial practices like Yaoya emerged as a way to maintain social order, display loyalty, and reinforce the society’s hierarchical structure.
The exchange of Yaoya arrowheads played a role in fostering political alliances, demonstrating loyalty, and solidifying relationships between feudal lords (daimyo), vassals, and samurai. The act of presenting and receiving these ceremonial gifts carried deep cultural and social significance, helping to maintain a sense of order and unity.
As the Edo period progressed, Yaoya practices continued to evolve, reflecting changes in society and politics. However, by the late Edo period, Japan began to experience internal and external pressures that eventually led to the collapse of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial rule during the Meiji period (1868-1912). With these changes, the significance of ceremonial arrowheads and similar practices gradually diminished, marking the end of a distinct era in Japanese history.
Ceremonial arrowheads from the 17th century serve as valuable historical areifacts, providing insight into the social, cultural, and political dynamics of feudal Japan today; they offer a glimpse into the elaborate rituals, symbolism, and artistic craftsmanship of the time, showcasing the intersection of practicality and aesthetics.
A Group of Japanese Arrowheads
18 th –19 th century
34.5 cm × 15 cm / 13.5 in × 5.9 in (on mount)
Provenance
Private collection, Japan
Private collection, France
£ 9,500
Japanese arrows were fitted with heads of varying shape according to their intended use in war, the hunt, or target practice. Arrowheads made for use on the battlefield incorporated different designs intended for specialized purposes such as the piercing of armor or to cause maximum damage to horses and unarmored personnel.
Large arrowheads, pierced and elaborately chiseled with landscapes, birds, flowers, dragons, and Buddhist divinities, were created to be admired for the beauty of their metalwork and design rather than for use in archery. Such highly elaborate examples may have been made for presentation or as a votive offerings to a shrine.
A
Gold and Silver-Gilt Pandan Taken at the Siege of Seringapatam
18 th century
South India. Gold, silver
7.7 cm × 9 cm
3 in × 3.5 in
Provenance
Major Thomas Hart of the East India Company, acquired in the days following the siege of Seringapatam, and thence by descent until sold by the family in March 2019.
£ 25,000
Of square form, the four lobed compartments with hinged raised lids topped with bird finials, one lobed compartment containing three betel nuts, the central screw with a finial in the form of a large peacock with raised tail, the lids and sides pierced with openwork floral and foliate decoration, the underside of the base engraved to resemble a stylised flower, the birds with later imitation pearls in their beaks.
A Very Fine Pair of Locks in the Versailles Taste, for Salon or Chamber Doors, with Neoclassical Ormolu Cases Attributable to the Royal Chiseller and Gilder Pierre Gouthière and probably cast from models created by the brothers Étienne-Jean or Pierre-Auguste Forestier, perhaps intended for the Apartments of Queen Marie-Antoinette
c. 1775 – 80
Paris. Iron, bronze, gold, enamel
£ 16,000
Of boxed rim-lock construction, each is formed of a gilt-bronze case decorated with neoclassical ornament finely cast and chiselled in relief. Each involving a series of outer panels minutely pounced with a dense pattern of tightly curled spirals, giving subtle texture to a matted gilt finish. The facing panel decorated with a griffon from classical mythology, superbly sculpted in relief within a setting of pierced scrolling acanthus sprigs, all contrasting against a black enamel ground, and all contained within an ‘egg and dart’ moulded framework. The spindle handle and key escutcheon project from the facing design, each in turn a work of complementary motifs. A secondary locking bolt is engaged by a sliding stud seated upon the upper surface of each case, the stud is chiselled in the round in the form of a sphinx, upheld in 18th century France as a wonder of ancient Egyptian culture.
The particularly high standards of casting and gilding compare closely with a pair of firedogs, again in the context of Paris neoclassical design, also of giltbronze and enamel and also attributed to Pierre Gouthière, which are preserved in the Getty Museum Collection (62.DF.1).
Luxurious rim locks such as these had the advantage of being easily removed by their owner for re-fitting elsewhere. The present pair would naturally have been intended to complement the dazzling gilt décor of a neoclassical salon. Coming from a modest artisanal family background, Pierre Gouthière (b. 1732) ultimately emerged as the pre-eminent Paris bronze chiseller and gilder of the late 18th century. In November 1767 he was appointed cizileur et doreur du roi (Chiseller and Gilder to Louis XV). Gouthière furthered his success, unsurpassed within the period, at the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antionette.
He also supplied a proliferation of works to the Comte d’Artois, the Marquis de Marigny, the Duc d’ Aumont, the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and to numerous others among the French aristocracy. Regrettably Gouthière fell foul of the Revolution and the consequent extinction of his patronage. In particular, the execution of the King’s Mistress Madame du Barry, who went to the guillotine owing him 756,000 livres: unable to retrieve the debt from her heirs, Gouthière died impoverished in 1813.
Especially noted among his accomplishments, Gouthière invented a new process of gilding that resulted in a matt or ‘soft dead gold’ finish. As with the gilt cases of the present pair of locks, Gouthière used the contrast between burnished and matt gilding to most desirable effect. In this manner he created varied finishes on the surfaces of his enormously wide spectrum of works; the novel use of densely
packed and minutely punched matt gilt panels in the instance of the present locks would appear to be a further example of Gouthière’s innovation.
Étienne-Jean Forestier (1747-94) and his brother Pierre-Auguste (1725-1825) were renowned bronze sculptors and modellers working both in Paris and at the royal workshops in Versailles, and were members of a dynastic family of bronze founders. A set of four gilt-bronze neoclassical wall lights or sconces commissioned for Louis XVI’s bedchamber at SaintCloud in 1788 are attributed to either of the brothers; these are preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Acc. No. 1979.172.3–.6). As was the practice of the period, the set was separately finished and gilded by a specialist cizileur et doreur, in that instance by Pierre Philippe Thomire, a contemporary of Pierre Gouthière.
15 A Finely Carved Hunting Horn,
by A. V. Lebeda
c. 1850
Austrian Empire. Wood, silver and horn.
22 cm × 8.5 cm
8.7 in × 3.3
Provenance
Private collection, Portugal
Private collection, USA
£ 22,000
Our beautifully carved hunting horn would once have formed part of the ceremonial hunting dress of a wealthy continental European sportsman and it may have been carved, or decorated, en suite with other items that he would have worn, and perhaps also purchased, at the same time. As the retailer’s name on our horn’s collar indicates, it was made in the Prague studio of the famous Bohemian gun-maker Anton Vinzent Lebeda (1797–1857).
Lebeda was apprenticed in Prague, completing his apprenticeship in 1813 and becoming a master gunsmith in 1822. In due course, his two sons, Anton (1823–60) and Ferdinand (1824–89) joined him in the business, from which he retired in 1854, the business continuing in Ferdinand’s hands until 1889. In 1852, in reflection of his standing as a gun-maker of the highest quality in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Lebeda was appointed gun-maker to the Imperial Court of the Emperor Franz-Joseph – himself an active and avid sportsman. Lebeda made guns and sporting equipment for British and European royalty and aristocracy and examples of his work are in many public collections worldwide; we have been privileged occasionally to offer items from this famous Bohemian gun-maker.
The scene that so finely decorates the wooden body of our horn is taken from the folk tale Reineke Fuchs (Reynard the Fox), a tale current throughout northern Europe from the twelfth century and thought, perhaps, to originate in Flanders. It first appeared in print, in verse, in a Dutch edition, printed in Gouda in 1479. Caxton’s English translation, published in 1481, was one of the first printed books produced in England, the first German edition being printed in Lübeck in 1498. The tale is one in which animals are given human characteristics and in which human foibles are transferred to the ‘animal kingdom’. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) published his verse adaptation of Reineke Fuchs in 1793, at a time when human frailties were widely exposed in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the beginning of what was to be two decades of war, and it was widely hailed as a triumph. In 1846, it was republished in quarto format by Cotta of Stuttgart and illustrated with engravings by the Munich engraver Adrien Schleich (1812–94) that were drawn from specially commissioned artwork by the artist Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1804–74); this edition was so successful that it was republished by Cotta in 1857 in octavo and translated into English by Thomas James Arnold (1803–77) in an edition published in London in 1860. Our horn’s carving is based upon the Schleich engraving after von Kaulbach that appeared in the 1846 edition and it is this that enables us confidently to date our horn to approximately 1850.
In the scene depicted on our horn, Reynard the Fox is about to be hanged for his numerous crimes against most of the rest of the animal kingdom, he having been sentenced to death by the Lion, who –although king of the beasts – is not that intelligent. Reynard’s particular foes are Isegrim, the wolf, who can be seen at the foot of the ladder ready to kick it away and launch Reynard into eternity, Bruin the bear, equipped with a halberd and holding the ropes tying Reynard’s hands, and Tybault the cat (from whose name is drawn the popular pet cat’s name ‘Tibby’), who is securing Reynard’s noose to the branch of the tree. All three of Reynard’s particular enemies are anxious to see him ‘turned off’ but, in the scene depicted, Reynard is astonishing the Lion by telling him of a plot against his life that he, Reynard, recently thwarted and which involved a quantity of buried treasure – the location of which Reynard can, of course, reveal if spared. Predictably, the Lion is convinced of Reynard’s worth and so spares his life, an action that appals most of the rest of the animals.
Ultimately, Reynard sees the error of his ways but remains, characteristically, duplicitous and clever – thus fulfilling the traditional character ascribed by humans to foxes. In the absence of other examples of gun-maker’s work reflective of the tale of Reinecke Fuchs, we cannot be sure of the extent to which von Kaulbach’s engravings were used in the decoration of sporting guns and their accessories. However, there is a long tradition in continental Europe of the accessories for sporting guns, particularly powder flasks, being decorated with scenes reflective of tales, myths and legends and so our horn, made at a time when powder flasks were decreasing in use in the sporting field through the increased use of cartridges, may be seen as a continuation of that tradition for a sporting society in which personal appearance was every bit as important as sporting skill.
16
A Hunting-Sword and Scabbard, with Amber and Silver-gilt
Hilt involving the St. Edward’s Coronation Crown of the English Monarchy, Silver Maker’s Mark of Thomas Vicaridge
c. 1682 – 96/7
England, London
Iron alloy (steel), silver-gilt, amber, wood, leather
58.5 × 8.5 cm
23 × 3.25 in
Provenance ?????
£ 28,000
English 17th century sword hilts built on an amber core are extremely rare and the present one must count among only a very few surviving examples. Cut from of a single piece of amber, the grip swells from its base to form a domed shouldered pommel, an accentuated version of the style of pommel found on the fine agate hilts produced in London in the latter decade of the 17th century. The polished finish reveals a series of dark inclusions adding to the marbled effect of the natural material.
Historically the greatest quantities of amber were to be found along East Prussia’s Baltic coast, on the shores of the Curonian lagoon and on those enclosing former Königsberg on the Sambia peninsula. Used in the manufacturing of a range of luxurious small works of art and domestic wares since the medieval period, raw amber was exported throughout the known world. From the 16th to end of the 18th centuries the collecting of amber was of sufficient value to the Prussian Duchy that it was a state prerogative, any local inhabitants caught removing amber were liable to severe punishment, even sentence of death.
The present hilt is made the more striking by the addition of a highly prominent silver tang-button, which is finely cast in the round in the form of the St. Edwards crown. Relatively newly made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661, the crown was used for the subsequent coronations of James II in 1685 and William III in 1689. The maker of this hilt, Thomas Vicaridge, was perhaps inspired by the nearness of either these latter dates in embellishing his work with a representation of the coronation crown.
The remaining parts of the hilt are of silver-gilt, comprising a large moulded collar seating the grip and a crosspiece drawn-out to form a pair of very short quillons, their respective tips each formed as recumbent lion in the round. Mounted with a burnished blade and in its lightly tooled pigskincovered wooden scabbard with locket and chape also of silver-gilt.
The hilt collar and the scabbard mounts are each struck with the first silver maker’s mark of Thomas Vickaridge (active 1682-1715). Vickaridge registered his first mark at Goldsmiths’ Hall on the ‘mark table’ of 1682. He registered his second mark in the Smallworkers’ Book at Goldsmiths’ Hall, probably in April of 1697. The present hilt will therefore pre-date that registration.
Vickaridge is considered to have been a leading silver-hilt maker and sword-cutler. He was sworn Free of the Cutlers’ Company 25th April 1682 and upon payment of a fifteen shillings fee was admitted to the Company. He is confirmed as working as a silver-hilt maker from the date of his Freedom of the Company until the introduction of the Britannia standard silver in 1697. Over the length of this period he is recorded working in New Street precinct in the parish of St. Brides, Fleet St., the ward of Farringdon Without, City of London.
Another hunting-sword with a silver hilt by Vickaridge is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Inv. No. 9371984), another is in the National Maritime Museum (Inv. No. 339): each of these has a staghorn grip conventional to the period.
A Silver-Hilted Small-Sword made for a Child, in the Rococo Fashion, together with Scabbard
Asimilarly diminutive sword with a very closely comparable silver hilt is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (34.57.3). That example is struck with Paris silver marks for 1758-59. The rococo styling of both of these solid silver hilts is almost identical, but in the instance of our provincially marked hilt it is clear that by circa 1770-80 it had been made in the image of the earlier Paris fashion.
The quality of the present hilt is nonetheless delightful, a perfect emulation of an adult sword of the period. The blade is entirely functional, if hopefully not purposeful. As is well-known from the portraiture of the period, children were dressed as miniaturised adults and boys would naturally be required to carry a sword as a reflection of their parents’ position in society.
A Very Rare Spontoon-Partisan
with the Arms of Andreas
Jacob Graf von Dietrichstein, as Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, by Georg Martin Gizl, dated 1749
Probably made to be first carried on the occasion of his Episcopal Consecration, 1st June 1749
Incised with the maker’s signature ‘GIZL ’ on one side, and the date ‘1749 ’ on the reverse Austria, Salzburg. Steel, gold
Provenance
Private collection, Germany
£ 18,000
Since 1620 the spear-like partisan was the form of staff weapon favoured at the court of the Salzburg Archbishopric (Fürsterzbistum Salzburg) in the arming of their elite small bodies of guard troops. Now wholly ceremonial, the etched baroque designs of strapwork and scrolls with which the heads of these weapons were decorated differed with each successive election of a ruling prince-archbishop, the identifying coat-of-arms naturally changing also. The comparatively smaller size of the present example represents the fashionable transition towards the spontoon, a staff weapon carried primarily as an 18th century emblem of rank.
Another Salzburg partisan of the same type made by Gizl for the guard of Graf von Dietrichstein, dated 1749 also, is in the Salzburg City Museum. This, together the present example, are very likely the only surviving pieces recorded from this series. The present partisan head is preserved in exceptional condition, almost certainly little used.
Anecdotally, the partisan adopted in 1753 for the guard of von Dietrichstein’s successor, Sigismund Christof III, Graf Schrattenbach and again made by Martin Gizl, was returned to the larger and now oldfashioned form associated with the early 18th century rulers of the Salzburg bishopric.
Georg Martin Gizl’s biographical details are sparse, limited mostly to the unusually wide variety of fine quality works he produced, the majority of these made for successive Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, then still ruling an autonomous state within the Holy Roman Empire. It is certain, however, that Gizl worked for the court in Salzburg from the early 1740’s until his death in 1787.
In addition to his artisanal court appointment, in 1757 Martin Gizl was additionally created a Stuckleutnant by Prince-Archbishop Graf von Schrattenbach (Lieutenant of the Salzburg Artillery). This unusual parallel role illustrates the contemporary recognition of Gizl’s understanding of the use and manufacturing of firearms and ordnance. He went on to produce a breech-loading flintlock musket of his own design: an example is preserved in the ancestral armoury of the Princes von Liechtenstein in Schloss Vaduz, signed ‘INVENIT MARTIN GIZL ET FECIT SALZBURG 1761’ (inv. 3825). His son Joachim and grandsons Sigmund and Johann all continued as gunmakers in Salzburg.
Conversely, among Gizl’s other recorded works is a luxurious gilt-copper writing casket made for von Dietrichstein’s predecessor, Leopold von Firmian, circa 1740-44, sold by Sotheby’s 10/13/2021. Stylistic parallels and a related hand may be observed
between the decorative scrollwork borders on the present piece and in the corresponding work on this casket. Gizl also made a profile portrait medallion of von Firmian, now in The Victoria and Albert Museum (acc.no. 274-1866).
He also produced a superb profile portrait medallion of von Dietrichstein in 1753, evidently completed post-mortem, which is in the Museum of the Abbey of St. Peter in Salzburg.
Other of Gizl’s works include a very remarkable ewer and basin of ibex horn and gilt-copper, dated 1758probably the foremost of all his works, this is now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 2013.442.1,.2); a theodolite dated 1769, in The British Museum (acc.no. 1867,0716.2); and a brass stringgnomon sun-dial, circa 1770, acquired in 2004 by Kunstkammer Georg Laue Gallery, Munich.
The likely survival of only two of the von Dietrichstein partisans of this 1749 series contrasts with the relatively numerous examples of Salzburg state staff weapons made for the respective guards of his predecessors, many of which are represented in museum collections throughout the western world.
In 1809 the territories of the former Bishopric of Salzburg (briefly an Electorate since 1803) were transferred to the Kingdom of Bavaria. Many of the various Salzburg etched state staff weapons were included in the plunder removed by Bavarian troops from the Hellbrunn Palace, the princely residence, and ultimately dispersed via the European and American art markets. Several examples of the series made in 1753 for von Schrattenbach (referred to above) are in the Bavarian Army Museum, Munich; another is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Kienbusch cat. no. 549).
Andreas Jakob Graf von Dietrichstein (1689-1753) was born into the Moravian line of the ancient Carinthian branch of the von Dietrichstein family, members of the highest-ranking tier of Austrian nobility, the Hohenadel. In 1707 he commenced his ecclesiastical studies in Salzburg, rising to cathedral provost in 1730.
Considered a worthy of Salzburg and a desirable political expedient, on 10th September 1747 von Dietrichstein was elected Archbishop of Salzburg. He inherited a state in which the protestant population had been expelled by Prince-Archbishop von Firmian (his predecessor bar one), and in which the Treasury of the archbishopric was as a result hampered by significant fiscal debt. Beset by this condition von Dietrichstein extolled frugality at the Salzburg court, with cuts to the administration, to planned building and with restrictions on elaborate court dress. It is perhaps this condition and von Dietrichstein’s promotion of means of fiscal recovery that led to a reduction in the strength of the court bodyguard and a resulting negligible quantity of ceremonial state weapons produced. Von Dietrichstein’s episcopal consecration as Prince-Archbishop duly took place on 1st June 1749. The great cost of his consecration payable to the Papacy had been negotiated down, and was in fact paid by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.
Despite these conditions, von Dietrichstein was a popular ruler of Salzburg and keen promoter of the theatre and of the arts and culture of the region.
DESCRIPTION
Of bright steel, formed of a spear-shaped blade of flattened diamond section cut with a vacant shaped panel about its middle, the lower portion typically with a pair of ear-like projections with inwardly scrolling tips, with a short neck incised with the maker’s signature ‘GIZL’ on one side, the date ‘1749’ on the reverse, and tubular socket with two moulded collars.
The outer face is decorated over its lower half with the arms of von Dietrichstein impaled by the sword and crosier of the princely Salzburg bishopric, a bishop’s hat and crucifix above, suspending twelve tassels (a departure from the recent use of ten), and all on a pounced stippled bright gilt ground within a contourshaped cartouche, its banded borders developing over the upper corners to form scrolling acanthus leaves and with an anthemion motif at the base.
The reverse face decorated in a corresponding manner over its lower half, the central cartouche filled with a prominent martial trophy involving a pair of standards, one bearing the arms of von Dietrichstein and the other those of the Salzburg bishopric. The combination of these arms, together with same representation of the bishop’s hat are struck on the Salzburg coinage introduced in 1747, the year of von Dietrichstein’s election, for example the 4-Kreuzer silver thaler.
An Austrian spontoon-partisan in the de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Berkshire (cat. no. 88, inv. W I/79/2) invites comparisons with the present example, in respect of clear similarities existing in the general elements of the design and its proportions. The Waddesdon example bears the chiselled arms of the Montecuccoli family, militarily important in the Habsburg service, and is ascribed to circa 1668-80. It may be that Gizl took inspiration from one of these.
An Indian Saddle Axe Head, or Tabarzin
early 18 th century
India. Steel and gold
11 cm × 14.5
4.3 in × 5.7 in
Provenance
Private collection, Belgium
£ 12,000
The saddle axe, so called because it was strapped to the rim of the saddle rather than carried by the warrior or suspended from his belt, was a singlehanded axe used by Turkish and Mongol cavalry from the medieval to the modern period. The head alone survives and would originally have been fitted to a short haft of wood or iron.
The axe blade is slightly bearded, with a faceted section for the haft and a square, flat back. The lower edge has a scalloped extension, forming a flower bud. The blade is finely fretted with a cusped and scalloped arabesque medallion, the remainder chiselled with flowering trees inhabited by birds and animals, with a geometrical border in gold koftgari.
The edge is populated by a series of lions hunting deer, with some corrosion rendering the decoration difficult to read. The faceted section for the haft is chiselled with floral scrolls, and the sides of the hammer back are chiselled with lions devouring deer. The square back is chiselled with a tree on which quizzical birds perch. The top and bottom are similarly chiselled and heavily gilt. The axe head is in the style of the famous early eighteenth century maker Lotf ‘Ali, one of whose axes, dated 1739/40, featured in our 2019 catalogue and is now in the David Collection, Copenhagen (36/2019, Finer 2019, 20–1, no. 10, Folsach et al 2019, 122–3, no. 24).
A Persian Dagger or Khanjar
late 18 th century
Zand Dynasty, Persia. Steel, gold
38.5 cm / 15.2 in (overall length)
Provenance
Private collection, Europe
£ 4,500
This is one or a small group of daggers made during the short-lived Zand dynasty (1751–94) in Persia from which these evolve, compare Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, no. 1939.44. This one is highly unusual in having a T-section for part of its back edge like a peshqabz. Though watered crucible or Wootz steel is the usual medium for blades of high quality in Persia at this time, pattern welded blades are not unknown (Khorasani 2006, 111–3), and sabres with Persian blades of this construction survive in the collection of the Kremlin Armoury Museum (OR4564, Levykin et al. 1998, 32–3, no. 21).
The dagger is of all steel construction, the blade of pattern welded steel curved and double-edged, with hollow ground at either side of a medial rib, and a T-section recessed section at the back of the blade. The hollow ground end in a raised panel at the forte chiselled and highlighted in gold koftgari with flowers and foliage. The hilt is of sharply waisted form, chiselled overall with flowers and foliage displays highlighted in gold koftgari at the guard and pommel, and in medallions running up either side of the grip. The pommel is engraved with a deer among foliage.
