AN ITALIAN SMALLSWORD, PAPAL STATES C.1720

This sword is mounted with a steel hilt, finely chiseled in flags and military trophies. The decoration is in panels gilt overall in the Italian taste. The grip is finely wrapped in steel wire and copper bands, originally gilt. The blade, swelled at the forte (colichemarde form) is decorated with a coronet impaled with palm fronds over an armorial device of a raptor on a globe encoiled by a serpent. The quality and form of the decoration indicate a noble owner, perhaps a branch of the Borghese family who grew in power under Pope Paul V (Camille Borghese) after 1605. This sword dates to the period of the greatest power of the Papal states which lasted until the Napoleonic Wars. 31 7/8" length blade.