{
"data": {
"id": 95909,
"accession_number": "1916.1620",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Executioner's Sword, late 1600s. Germany, late 17th Century. Steel, wood, brass and copper wire; overall: 108.9 cm (42 7/8 in.); blade: 85.7 cm (33 3/4 in.); quillions: 22.5 cm (8 7/8 in.); grip: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance, 1916.1620",
"current_location": "210A Armor Court",
"title": "Executioner's Sword",
"creation_date": "late 1600s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1650,
"creation_date_latest": 1699,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Germany, late 17th Century"
],
"technique": "steel, wood, brass and copper wire",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Medieval Art",
"collection": "MED - Arms & Armor",
"type": "Arms and Armor",
"measurements": "Overall: 108.9 cm (42 7/8 in.); Blade: 85.7 cm (33 3/4 in.); Quillions: 22.5 cm (8 7/8 in.); Grip: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"length": 1.089
},
"blade": {
"length": 0.857
},
"quillions": {
"width": 0.225
},
"grip": {
"length": 0.15
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Wan ich Das Schwerdt thu auff heben so / Wunch ich Dem armen sunder das Ewege Leben",
"inscription_translation": "When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life.",
"inscription_remark": "On the Blade",
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 190103,
"title": "Armor Court Reinstallation",
"description": "Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).",
"opening_date": "1998-09-10T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Edwin J. Brett (1828-1895), London, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Frank Gair Macomber, Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "-1916",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1916-",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The inscription on this sword reads, \"When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life.\"",
"description": "Execution by decapitation was generally reserved for the nobility during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although the axe was favored in England, for centuries swords were used throughout Central Europe. The blades were often etched with moralizing inscriptions and designs representing Justice (as here), the gallows, the rack, or the Crucifixion. By the early 1700s swords were no longer primarily used in Europe for executions, but they still functioned as symbols of power. This sword was probably ceremonial for a formal procedure or procession.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60740475"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1916.1620-executioner-s-sword"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 4, 17th to 19th century and a few pieces of iron work. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915].",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: No. (209) 228",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CatArmsArmour4/page/n192"
},
{
"citation": "Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 129-130, E97",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/SeveranceCollection1924/page/n194"
},
{
"citation": "Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.",
"page_number": "pp. 112, 171; cat. no. 165",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.",
"page_number": "cat. no. 142, p. 189",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1620",
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"creditline": "Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance",
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"athena_id": 95909,
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1916-04-10T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1650,
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"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:07:40.396000"
}
}