Infantry officer's sword from the Napoleonic wars

Infantry officer’s sword from the Napoleonic wars

gilded brass, ebony, steel, engraving, gilding, bluing (shmelzing), France, early 19th century.

Closed gilded brass hilt; pommel decorated with a palmette and laurel leaves; the pommel ring holds an ebony knurled decorative grip featuring a winged thunderbolt with four lightning bolts. A knuckle bow extends from the pommel, featuring an eagle’s head with wings at the junction. The knuckle bow, partially spindle-shaped, transitions into an Amazon shield (pelta) featuring Nike in a central medallion, crowning a head with a laurel wreath and holding a palm branch in her other hand. The medallion is surrounded by panoplies, oak leaves, and laurel leaves. 21 studs around the edges of the Amazon shield. The back of the shield is decorated with a palmette motif. The rear quillon ends in a fully sculpted lion’s head. Steel blade with double fullers extending to the middle of the blade. The fullers are blued, etched, and engraved with floral motifs and panoplies on both sides up to the midpoint. Scabbard missing.

Dimensions: total length 94 cm, blade length 81 cm, max blade width 2.2 cm.

Ownership: Mikołaj Pietraszak-Dmowski, Puszczykowo.