id: 96097 accession number: 1916.1835 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1835 updated: 2023-03-03 07:01:12.296000 Bill, c. 1480. Italy, 15th century. Steel, wood haft; overall: 184.8 cm (72 3/4 in.); blade: 11.4 cm (4 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1835 title: Bill title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1480 creation date earliest: 1475 creation date latest: 1485 current location: 210A Armor Court creditline: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance copyright: --- culture: Italy, 15th century technique: steel, wood haft department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Arms & Armor type: Arms and Armor find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 184.8 cm (72 3/4 in.); Blade: 11.4 cm (4 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Armor Court Reinstallation opening date: 1998-09-10T00:00:00 Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). title: The Book of Kings: Art, War and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible opening date: 2002-10-27T00:00:00 The Book of Kings: Art, War and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 27-December 29, 2002). title: Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2007-05-10T00:00:00 Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Frank Gair Macomber (1849-1941), Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1916 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1916- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: With its long shaft, the bill was useful for reaching mounted men, and a military version soon emerged. digital description: wall description: This weapon known as the "bill" was developed from an agricultural tool and was one of the first staff weapons to be used by medieval infantries. Used throughout Western Europe, it was particularly popular in Italy and England where it served as an equivalent to the Central European halberd. Fitted with a pronounced hook whose inside and outside curves were cutting edges, it was topped by a long spike. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Catalogue of Arms and Armour. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], 1900. page number: cat. no. 373 url: https://archive.org/details/CatArmsArmour1/page/n219/mode/2up 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: p. 181-182, H3; Reproduced: Plate XL, H3 url: https://archive.org/details/SeveranceCollection1924/page/n261 Cleveland Museum of Art, and Helen Ives Gilchrist. Handbook of the Severance Collection of Arms and Armor. 2d ed., 1948. page number: Reproduction: p. 44 url: https://archive.org/details/HandbookArmsArmor1948/page/n51 Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. page number: pp. 126, 168; cat. no. 117 url: Louis, William Noel, and Daniel H. Weiss. The Book of Kings: Art, War and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2002. page number: exh. cat. #33, fig. 8, pp. 94, 189 url: Shafroth, Frank. "Deep Cuts: The Crisis in State Funding." American Association of Museums. Museum News 82 (July 2003). page number: no. 4. p. 34. url: Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: url: Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. Mùˆnchen: Hirmer, 2007. page number: p. 28-1, no. 105 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.1835/1916.1835_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.1835/1916.1835_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.1835/1916.1835_full.tif