{
"data": {
"id": 97041,
"accession_number": "1916.696",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Basket-Hilt Broadsword (\"Mortuary Sword\"), hilt: c. 1640\u201350; blade: 1700s. Hilt: England; Blade: Germany, Solingen (?), Hilt: 17th Century; Blade: 18th Century. Steel, chiseled; inlaid gilt- silver foil; wood and wire grip; overall: 101.6 cm (40 in.); blade: 85.2 cm (33 9/16 in.); hilt: 13 cm (5 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance, 1916.696",
"current_location": "210A Armor Court",
"title": "Basket-Hilt Broadsword (\"Mortuary Sword\")",
"creation_date": "hilt: c. 1640\u201350; blade: 1700s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1635,
"creation_date_latest": 1799,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Hilt: England; Blade: Germany, Solingen (?), Hilt: 17th Century; Blade: 18th Century"
],
"technique": "steel, chiseled; inlaid gilt- silver foil; wood and wire grip",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Medieval Art",
"collection": "MED - Arms & Armor",
"type": "Arms and Armor",
"measurements": "Overall: 101.6 cm (40 in.); Blade: 85.2 cm (33 9/16 in.); Hilt: 13 cm (5 1/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"length": 1.016,
"length_inch": 40,
"length_inch_fraction": 0.0
},
"blade": {
"length": 0.852,
"length_inch": 33,
"length_inch_fraction": 0.5625
},
"hilt": {
"width": 0.13,
"width_inch": 5,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.125
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "ANDRIA FERRARA",
"inscription_translation": null,
"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": "Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612-1671), Yorkshire, England (purportedly)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849), Newcastle, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Prince Augustus Frederick (1773-1843), Duke of Sussex, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "George Francis William Henry Denison (1892-1920), Earl of Londesborough, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "Edwin J. Brett (1828-1895), London, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "S.J. Whawell (1871-1899), London, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "Frank Gair Macomber (1849-1941), Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?-1916",
"sortorder": 7
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1916-",
"sortorder": 8
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The ornate basket hilt which protects the hand, is chiseled with leafy decorative scrollwork and grotesque masks.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "The decoration on this sword's hilt includes an image of King Charles I of England (beheaded in 1649). Because the image resembles the king's death mask, this sword is known as a \"mortuary sword.\" It may have belonged to Sir Thomas Fairfax, a general of the Parliamentary cavalry during the English Civil War (1642-51). Large, double-edged broadswords, designed for heavy cavalry use, were common from the 1600s through the 1800s.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60761687"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1916.696-basket-hilt-broadswo"
]
},
"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. (211) 230",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CatArmsArmour4/page/n207"
},
{
"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: p. 121-122, E79; Reproduced: Plate XXX, E79",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/SeveranceCollection1924/page/n185"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, and Helen Ives Gilchrist. Handbook of the Severance Collection of Arms and Armor. 2d ed., 1948.",
"page_number": "Reproduction: p. 40",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/HandbookArmsArmor1948/page/n47"
},
{
"citation": "Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.",
"page_number": "p. 105; cat. no. 128, p. 168",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Fliegel, Stephen. \"The Armor Court.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 38, no. 7 (September 1998): 4-7.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 7",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1998-07/page/4/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.",
"page_number": "cat. no. 166, p. 190",
"url": null
}
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"accession_date": "1916-04-10T00:00:00",
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 05:13:42.198000"
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