[Nathan Robinson]

Can anyone share some historical images of scabbards for early 16th century longswords with me? I'm looking for historical artwork or extant originals to find inspiration for scabbard details, chape and locket designs, and suspension styles.

Things like the image below but hopefully with more detail.



Thank you.

[Lloyd Winter]

For suspension tips you might look at the Durer St Eustace altarpiece and the Death the Knight and the Devil engraving. Both are pre 1520 as I recall.

[Craig Peters]

It might be a bit early for your taste, but Dürer's Paumgartner Altar has another pretty good representation of an early 16th century scabbard: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Paumgartner-Altar_-_Alte_Pinakothek_M%C3%BCnchen.jpg

[Craig Peters]

St George and the Dragon paintings are a pretty good source for scabbards at this time. For instance, the famous "St. George and the Dragon" by Vittore Carpaccio from 1502: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Vittore_carpaccio%2C_san_giorgio_e_il_drago_01.jpg

Found another one by Vittore Carpaccio. It's hard to say if the sword is a long sword; the grip is pretty short, yet my impression is that a two point suspension is usually for a long sword, rather than a single hander:
http://www.vittorecarpaccio.org/St-George-and...large.html

Here's from Raphael, between 1504 to 1506: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Saint_george_raphael.jpg

There's another from Mair of Landshut, who lived from 1455 to 1520. I don't know the date on this painting, and it looks like it could be 15th century, but the style of scabbard also seems similar to some of the other early 16th century paintings: http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/1...279289.jpg

[Craig Peters]

I don't know the exact dating on this image, but the style of sword certainly looks to be 16th century. Whether it's early enough though is another story: http://www.meryratio.hu/sites/default/files/s...0-10_1.jpg

[Nathan Robinson]

Loving this already...

[Craig Peters]

Are two-point suspensions more commonly found on long sword scabbards intended for cavalry wear? I notice that nearly all of the mounted images show this form of suspension, while images of long swords worn by men on foot often seem to lack the two point attachments.

[Mark Lewis]

Some of Lucas van Leyden's engravings have great detail for clothing and weapons. He lived circa 1494-1533... these two engravings are usually dated around 1507 or 1508, when he was only 14 years old?




http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/351298
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/364649

[Sean Flynt]

I'm going to post a number of things from this period that I know are not quite what you're looking for, but will be good to gather here. I'm still looking, but here's something that might be of special interest--an elite sword with a decorative locket and tooled scabbard. No suspension shown here, unfortunately, but I would assume that the simple knot most often seen on scabbards of this period and culture would not work. Staple or ring on the back of the locket, maybe, meant to ride on a belt hook? Or, possibly, not meant to be worn, but carried in the crook of the arm as a ceremonial weapon. (?)

German, 1510 (via ImaReal)

[Sean Flynt]

A few more from ImaReal. My search range for these was 1510-1550.

Note that in some of those martyrdom images, the sword scabbard is on the ground, with suspension clearly visible.

FWIW, I have used the single knot on all my scabbards, and find them to work extremely well. It holds the weapon at the correct angle and allows the belt to rest loosely on the top of the right hip.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Sean Flynt]

I'd love to try a fabric belt like the one in the last image above. You can pick up inexpensive, colorful silk scarves of good length from street markets in Italy. I assume they can be found online as well.

[Sean Flynt]

The one that's a simple frog with gilt iron (?) fittings really grabs my attention. I think it might be meant to match a belt hook. It's another type I'd love to try. The scabbard attachment is dead simple and ripe for tooling, metal applique, tacks, gilding, etc. I would pair this with a gilded iron or brass hook and a broad, decorated belt like the one in the background. What a set that would be!

Cornelis Tromp posted the images of a hook mechanism for a messer suspension: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?...&pp=30

The other image is Peter Johnsson messer of this period with a variant of the single-point suspension. That knot or slide arrangement might be like what we're seeing in some of the ImaReal images I posted above.

[Eric LeClair]

That's just an incredible share @Sean Flynt Thanks for sharing such awesome pics.

[Sean Flynt]

[Hass Fernen]

[Sean Flynt]

Hello! An Apple update wiped out my Mac and the stuff I was able to save is a bit scrambled so I don't have the specific image number for that. However, it's from this incredibly rich source: http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/

If you select the date range (probably 1480-1530) and search the German terms for scabbard, belt, purse, etc. It will turn up somewhere. The site will show the full image and several details, including this one.

Good luck! Judging from your name, I'm guessing you won't have a problem with the German terms, but let me know if that's not the case.

[Hass Fernen]