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Fig. 1371. Chiselled steel rapier hilt
Italian, late XVIth century. Presented to Henri IV of France by Pope Clement VIII on the occasion of his marriage with Marie de Médicis. J 379, Musée d'Artillerie, Paris
France in 1599, on the occasion of his marriage with Marie de Médicis. As becoming its donor, the subjects chiselled upon the hilt are all of a religious character, introducing the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, and finally—on the pommel—the Circumcision. In the lowest ring of the guard is a small shell on which is a portrait of Henri IV, and the date 1599.
