Arms & Armour
Rapier
Arms & Armour
Details
- Author / creator
- Clemens Horn (German, 1586–1617)
- Object type
- Arms & armour
- Date or period
- c. 1620–30
- Dimensions summary
- Overall: 111.1 cm; Blade: 89.2 cm; Quillions: 21.3 cm
- Category
- Edged weapon
- Armourer's / maker's marks
- NEC TEMPARE NEC TIMIDE / INTER ARMA SILENT LEGE / VERITATEM DILIGE ET PUGNA PRO PATRIA (“Neither without cause, nor fearfully/Between arms and silent law/ Prize truth and the fight for one's country.”); Mark of the bladesmith Clemens Horn: Unicorn Head
About this object
This weapon has an especially handsome configuration of hilt, pommel, quillons, and guard. The blade is also very finely wrought and bears the mark (a unicorn head) of the German swordsmith, Clemens Horn, of Solingen, a town near Düsseldorf. The Latin inscription on the blade reads in translation: "Neither without cause, nor fearfully/Between arms and silent law/ Prize truth and the fight for one's country."
Materials and technique
Steel, blued and gilded
Signature and marks
NEC TEMPARE NEC TIMIDE / INTER ARMA SILENT LEGE / VERITATEM DILIGE ET PUGNA PRO PATRIA (“Neither without cause, nor fearfully/Between arms and silent law/ Prize truth and the fight for one's country.”); Mark of the bladesmith Clemens Horn: Unicorn Head
