Rapier

This elaborately decorated rapier is the only known extant work produced by the swordsmith and decorator Damianus de Nerve. Sadly, we have no additional biographical information about this artist. Only his signature on the ricasso, the unsharpened length of blade just below the guard, indicates his authorship: DAMIANVS DE NERVĒ / ME FECIT. The abbreviation sign above the ‘E’ suggest his name may have been de Nerven.

Stylistically, the decoration of this rapier is almost identical to works produced by the Spanish swordsmith and damascener Diego de Çaias, a number of whose bladed weapons have survived and are now in collections in New York, Dresden, Paris, and elsewhere. This stylistic affinity suggests a possible close connection between the two artists; perhaps de Çaias was the teacher and de Nerve(n) his pupil or assistant. De Çaias worked for the French court from 1535 to 1542, then for the English court until at least 1549. In the 1550s he may have been active in Antwerp.

The hilt of this rapier is made of iron, and it and the ricasso are lavishly decorated with damascene work in gold and silver, featuring, among other things, depictions of Hercules and Cerberus, Gideon and the fleece, as well as battle and hunting scenes and Vitruvian scrolls.

A rapier is a weapon with a straight blade that is slenderer than that of a sword. It was used for fencing, and the longer and slimmer it became in the course of the second half of the sixteenth century, the more it was used for thrusting rather than cutting. The hilt of this rapier represents one of the countless variations of early hilts from the mid-sixteenth century that do not yet fully protect the hand wielding it. It comprises a pommel, a stock, and a crossguard, as well as a knuckleguard, a pair of finger guards (along the ricasso), and a side ring at the top of the blade.