An Unusual 'Mortuary' Hilted Sabre, Circa 1640

With bright curved blade (minor rust patination) double-edged towards the point and deeply incised with an anchor-shaped mark on both sides towards the forte, blackened guard pierced and chiselled in low relief on both sides with a bearded male profile head wearing a cap, both in an oval and between moustachioed profile heads, all against a ground of pierced and chiselled scrolling foliage inhabited by monster-heads, the knuckle-guard connected by scrolled bars to two bifurcated side-bars, all chiselled with foliage and screwed to the pommel, globular pommel with flattened button and chiselled en suite with the guard, and spirally-grooved fishskin-covered grip between two brass Turks' heads (wire binding missing)
78.8 cm. blade

Provenance
Christie's London, Antique Arms and Armour, 29 March 1995, lot 68