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58-397: The blade designs of falchions varied widely across the continent and over time. They almost always included a single edge with a slight curve on the blade towards the point on the end and most were also affixed with a quilloned crossguard for the hilt in the manner of the contemporary arming swords . Unlike the double-edged swords of Europe, few actual swords of this type have survived to

116-561: A double-edged blade. These weapons were therefore not cleaving or chopping weapons similar to the machete, but quick slashing weapons more similar to shamshir or sabres despite their wide blade. Unlike Central European messers, and smaller fighting knives such as tesak which could be of very crude construction and at times were popular among the peasantry, surviving Falchions display high levels of craftsmanship, oftentimes with intricately decorated pommels of bronze, and may feature inscribed blades of latten. While some forms of falchions may blur

174-488: A few English and German pieces. The collection ranges from cabinet furniture, much of which is veneered with brass and turtleshell marquetry (commonly known as "Boulle" marquetry) or with wood marquetry, to seat furniture, clocks and barometers, gilt-bronze items including mounted porcelain and hardstones, mantelpieces, mirrors, boxes and pedestals. One highlight of the collection is the major collection of furniture attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732), perhaps

232-540: A floral motif. After the end of the Middle Ages, crossguards became more elaborate, forming first quillons and then, through the addition of guard branches, the basket hilt , which offered more protection to the unarmored hand. Ewart Oakeshott in chapter 4 of his The Sword in the Age of Chivalry (1964) classifies medieval cross-guards into twelve types: The medieval dagger in the 14th and 15th century also adopted

290-404: A form of artistic short-hand to convey certain meanings, such as indicating who the story enemies are, as falchions are overrepresented in 'villainous' characters, such as biblical enemies, or non-Christian barbarians. Falchions are sometimes misunderstood and thought of as being similar to machetes; however, the ancient falchions that have been discovered are very thin and on average, lighter than

348-523: A large number of extravagantly decorated 16th- and early-17th-century wheel-lock firearms, together with an impressive group of magnificent civilian flint-lock guns of the Napoleonic era. Several of the weapons here were made for European rulers, including Louis XIII and Louis XIV of France and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It is a major collection of early firearms in the United Kingdom. This space

406-557: A smoking room lined with Minton tiles in Turkish style. Under the architect Thomas Ambler a new front portico was added in the form of a porte-cochère , with large Doric pilasters, storeys were added to both wings and the stables and coach house were converted to galleries by the addition of top-lit roofs. The whole building was given a red brick facade and the windows were altered. Wallace bequeathed all his assets to his wife, who in turn and most probably according to his wishes, bequeathed

464-491: A standard feature of the Norman sword of the 11th century and of the knightly arming sword throughout the high and late medieval period. Early crossguards were straight metal bars, sometimes tapering towards the outer ends. While this simple type was never discontinued, more elaborate forms developed alongside it in the course of the Middle Ages. The crossguard could be waisted or bent in the 12th and 13th century. Beginning in

522-595: A variant with quillons styled after the hilt of a sword. Quillon-daggers remained popular in the 16th century after the sword type it resembled had fallen out of use. Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square , the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford . It is named after Sir Richard Wallace , who built

580-469: Is a non-departmental public body and the current director is Xavier Bray. The Wallace Collection is a museum which displays works of art collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by five generations of a British aristocratic family – the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace , the illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess . In the 19th century, the Marquesses of Hertford were one of

638-714: Is known as a quillon or quillion . The crossguard was developed in the European sword around the 10th century for the protection of the wielder's hand. The earliest forms were the crossguard variant of the Spatha used by the Huns , the so-called Pontic swords. There are many examples of crossguards on Sasanian Persian Swords beginning from the early 3rd century. They might be the oldest examples. Crossguards were not only used to counter enemy attacks, but also to improve grip. They were later seen in late Viking swords . Crossguards are

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696-483: Is known for its 18th-century French paintings, Sèvres porcelain and French furniture but also displays other objects, such as arms and armour featuring both European and Oriental objects, as well as displays of gold boxes, miniatures, sculpture and medieval and Renaissance works of art such as maiolica , glass, bronzes and Limoges enamels . The works of art in the Collection comprise: The Wallace Collection

754-503: Is split into six curatorial departments: Pictures and Miniatures; Ceramics and Glass; Sculpture and Works of Art; Arms and Armour; Sèvres porcelain; and Gold Boxes and Furniture. The Wallace Collection's Old Master paintings are some of the most prominent in the world, and date from the 14th to the mid-19th centuries. The highlights include Dutch and Flemish paintings of the 17th century, 18th- and 19th-century French paintings, and works by English, Italian and Spanish artists. Strengths of

812-414: Is such a large discrepancy between the frequency of falchions in period art, contrasted with the amazingly few surviving falchions from the medieval period. Currently, there are fewer than 30 confirmed surviving medieval falchions, contrasted with the thousands of straight double edged swords from the same period. Current research by James Elmslie suggests that the overrepresentation in medieval artwork may be

870-544: Is the cusp or écusson, a protrusion of the crossguard in the center where it is fitted on the blade. Also from the 14th century, the leather chappe is sometimes replaced with a metal sheet. An early example of this is a sword dated to c. 1320–40 kept at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow. A later example is the "Monza sword" of Estore Visconti (early 15th century), where the rain-guard is of silver and decorated with

928-673: The Royal Collection , Waddesdon Manor , the collections of the Duke of Buccleuch , the Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art as one of the greatest and most celebrated in the world. Totalling more than five hundred pieces, the collection consists largely of 18th-century French furniture but also includes some significant pieces of 19th-century French furniture, as well as interesting Italian furniture and

986-593: The revolutionary sales , held in France after the end of the French Revolution . The Wallace Collection, Waddesdon Manor and the Royal Collection , all three located in the United Kingdom, are some of the largest, most important collections of French 18th-century decorative arts in the world, rivalled only by the Musée du Louvre , Château de Versailles and Mobilier National in France. The Wallace Collection

1044-414: The 13th and 14th centuries. However apart from the profile they present a very thin blade, often only 1.2 mm (0.047 in) thick spines, 7 cm (2.8 in) from the point with a slight taper leading near to the edge before dropping into a secondary bevel which brings the blade to a very acute edge while maintaining some durability. Current theories are that they were the anti-cloth armour weapon of

1102-423: The 13th or 14th century, swords were almost universally fitted with a so-called chappe or rain-guard , a piece of leather fitted to the crossguard. The purpose of this leather is not entirely clear, but it seems to have originated as a part of the scabbard, functioning as a lid when the sword was in the scabbard. In the 14th to 15th century, many more elaborate forms were tried. A feature of such late medieval forms

1160-498: The 1560s in the Wallace Collection , engraved with the personal coat of arms of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany . Crossguard A sword 's crossguard or cross-guard is a bar between the blade and hilt , essentially perpendicular to them, intended to protect the wielder's hand and fingers from opponents' weapons as well as from his or her own blade. Each of the individual bars on either side

1218-510: The 16th century. In addition, there are a group of 13th- and early 14th-century weapons sometimes identified with the falchion. These have a falchion-like blade mounted on a wooden shaft 1–2 ft (30–61 cm) long, sometimes ending in a curve like an umbrella. These are seen in numerous illustrations in the mid-13th-century Maciejowski Bible . Produced by bladesmith and historian James Elmslie, this typology continuously seeks to systematically classify medieval single edged swords, similar to

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1276-467: The Front State Room, then, as now, hung with portraits. Some of the modern furniture seen in the room in 1890 is no longer in the collection, but the mounted porcelain displayed on the cabinets and the chandelier , made by Jean-Jacques Caffiéri , have been returned to the room. Displays: The Rococo at the time of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour The Back State Room is today dedicated to

1334-512: The Louvre, as well as the finest parts of the collection of Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick , a pioneering collector and scholar of arms and armour. The arms and armour collections are today recognised as among the finest in the world. During Sir Richard Wallace's lifetime, this room formed part of the stables with the grooms' bedrooms on a mezzanine floor. Sir Richard's European arms and armour were displayed in one large gallery, today's West Gallery III, on

1392-476: The Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Sixteenth-Century Gallery comprised two smaller rooms during Sir Richard and Lady Wallace's lifetime. The contemporary photograph shows how one room was arranged by Sir Richard as a cabinet of curiosities, with paintings and maiolica densely hung on the walls and smaller works of art kept in cases or inside Renaissance cabinets. The other room, known as the Canaletto Room,

1450-542: The Wallace Collection were largely collected by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in the 1860s, the last decade of his life. Like many of his contemporaries, Sir Richard Wallace used this material to bring Oriental exoticism, as it was then considered, into his fashionable London house. The Oriental Armoury was displayed on the first floor of Hertford House. Trophies of arms and armour from India, the Middle East,

1508-520: The art collection to take up residence in England, following the unstable political climate in France following the Prussian Siege of Paris (1870–1871). Wallace in turn expanded the art collection, adding medieval and Renaissance objects and European arms and armour. Between 1872–1882 the house was much altered by Sir Richard Wallace, who added a rear extension to house his art collection with

1566-490: The aspect it had in Sir Richard Wallace's day more than any other room in the building. This room reveals the opulence of the London town house in the 1870s and sets the scene for visitors to the Wallace Collection. The State Rooms were the grandest rooms in the house, in which the most important visitors were received. When it was the home of Sir Richard and Lady Wallace, visitors to Hertford House first entered

1624-494: The awe-inspiring jousts, tournaments and festivals of the time. Fine arms and armour were considered works of art as much as warlike equipment. Displayed in this gallery are some of the finest examples of the armourer's art, exquisite sculptures richly embellished with gold and silver. This space was formerly part of Sir Richard Wallace's stables. Displays: Later Arms and Armour (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) The array of sporting guns, rifles and pistols in this room includes

1682-559: The bequest was that no object should ever leave the collection, even for loan exhibitions. However in September 2019, the board of trustees announced that they had obtained an order from the Charity Commission for England & Wales which allowed them to enter into temporary loan agreements for the first time. The United Kingdom is particularly rich in the works of the ancien régime , purchased by wealthy families during

1740-626: The building ) the lease was acquired in 1797 by Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford (1743–1822), who in 1814 held there the Allied Sovereigns' Ball after the first defeat of Napoleon in 1814. Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford (1777–1842), the family's first great art collector, lived mainly at his other London residences, Dorchester House in Mayfair and St Dunstan’s Villa in Regents Park, now

1798-523: The collection and it was opened as a museum in 1900. As a museum the Wallace Collection's main strength is 18th-century French art : paintings, furniture, porcelain, sculpture and gold snuffboxes and 16th- to 19th-century paintings by such as Titian , Van Dyck , Rembrandt , Hals , Velázquez , Gainsborough and Delacroix , a collection of arms and armour and medieval and Renaissance objects including Limoges enamels , maiolica , glass and bronzes. Paintings, furniture and porcelain are displayed together in

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1856-535: The collection include 5 Rembrandts (and school), 9 Rubens's, 4 Van Dycks, 8 Canalettos, 9 Guardis, 19 François Bouchers, Fragonard , 9 Murillos, 9 Teniers, 2 Titians, Poussin , 3 Velázquezs and 8 Watteaus. The inventory of pictures, watercolours and drawings comprises all the major European schools. Dutch School: English School Flemish School French School: Italian School Spanish School There are fine examples of porcelain on display, including Meissen porcelain , and one of

1914-478: The conservatory, in place of a Venetian window on the Landing and two first-floor rooms on each wing. The Porphyry Court was little more than a rather dismal back yard until 2000, when it was transformed by being doubled in size and provided with a dramatic pair of flights of stairs. The Collection numbers nearly 5,500 objects, a range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The collection

1972-597: The day over an enjoyable pipe or cigar. The room had oriental interiors, with walls lined with Turkish-style tiles made by the Minton factory in Stoke-on-Trent, the floor laid with a patterned mosaic. A small section of this interior survives in the alcove at the north end of the room. This was not only a highly fashionable look for a late Victorian smoking room but also practical, ensuring the smell of smoke did not linger in any fabric furnishings. The Landing serves as

2030-457: The day. The majority of the depictions in art reflect a design similar to that of the großes Messer . The Thorpe Falchion, a surviving example from England's 13th century, was just under 904 grams (1.99 lb) in weight. Of its 956 millimetres (37.6 inches) length, 803 millimetres (31.6 in) are the straight blade which bears a cusped or flare-clipped tip similar to the much later kilij of Turkey . This type of sword continued in use into

2088-418: The extensive collection, along with the Marquesses of Hertford, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection features fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with important holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms and armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries. It is open to the public and entry is free. It was established in 1897 from

2146-464: The first floor, directly above European Armoury I. Displays: Renaissance Arms and Armour (fifteenth to seventeenth centuries) The Wallace Collection contains some of the most spectacular Renaissance arms and armour in Britain. All of the richest and most powerful noblemen of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries commissioned beautifully decorated weapons and armour, not just for war, but also for use in

2204-580: The freehold from the Portman Estate . Hertford House first opened as a museum on 22 June 1900. In 2000, the inner courtyard was given a glass roof and a restaurant was opened named "Cafe Bagatelle" after the Château de Bagatelle in Paris purchased in 1835 by Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford , later part of Scott's inheritance. The museum display does not aim to reconstruct the state of

2262-559: The house when Sir Richard and Lady Wallace lived here. The Entrance Hall contains marble busts of the three principal founders of the Wallace Collection: Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), his son, Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890) and in the lobby, Lady Wallace, who bequeathed the contents of Hertford House to the British nation on her death in 1897. The room has retained

2320-594: The lands of the old Ottoman Empire, and the Far East, patterned the walls of the Oriental Armoury, whilst the ceiling was decorated with a pattern of gold stars on a deep blue background. Displays: Medieval and Renaissance Arms and Armour (tenth to sixteenth centuries) Sir Richard Wallace acquired most of his European armour in 1871, when he bought the collections of the comte Alfred Emilien de Nieuwekerke, Minister of Fine Arts to Napoleon III and director of

2378-560: The lease of Hertford House, passed to his distant cousin Francis Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford (1812–1884). However the 4th Marquess's illegitimate son and heir of his unentailed estate, Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet (1818–1890), inherited his art collection, French and Irish estates, and re-purchased Sudbourne Hall in Suffolk and in 1871 the lease of Hertford House from the 5th Marquess, and returned from Paris with much of

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2436-487: The line between sword and tool (in particular early forms Lombardy ), and are depicted being used by common infantry, surviving examples are shown to be handsome weapons of status; the Conyers falchion belonged to a landed family, and the falchion is shown in illustrations of combat between mounted knights. Some later falchions were ornate and used by the nobility; there is an elaborately engraved and gold plated falchion from

2494-542: The main orientation point on the first floor. It is hung with mythological and pastoral paintings by Boucher and is also perhaps the best place to admire the wrought iron work of the staircase balustrade, made in 1719 for the Royal bank in Paris. Hertford House was built in 1776–78 for the 4th Duke of Manchester. After a brief spell as the Spanish Embassy, it was bought by the 2nd Marquess of Hertford in 1797. He added

2552-589: The main part of her husband's art collection to the nation, thus forming the "Wallace Collection", the rest, including the French properties and Hertford House, going to the couple's secretary Sir John Murray Scott, 1st Baronet . Scott sold the lease of Hertford House to the UK Government, as a suitable home for the Wallace Collection, after which he was rewarded with a baronetcy, and the Government acquired

2610-742: The manner of private collections of the 19th century. The 16th- and 17th-century Hertford House was the London townhouse of Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539–1621) and was in a different location: Cannon Row in Westminster. His father Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (executed 1552), brother of Queen Jane Seymour , had started building the palatial Somerset House on the Strand as his townhouse, but did not live to see its completion. The present House in Manchester Square

2668-469: The patronage of King Louis XV (1715–1774) and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. It displays some of the prominent examples in the Wallace Collection of art in the rococo style. Sir Richard Wallace used the Back State Room to entertain guests at Hertford House. During his lifetime it had wooden boiserie panelling on the wall; the great chandelier, by Jacques Caffiéri , dating from 1751, remains in

2726-597: The present day; fewer than a dozen specimens are currently known. A number of weapons similar to the falchion existed in Western Europe, including the Messer , hanger and the backsword . Two basic types of falchion can be identified: One of the few surviving falchions (the Conyer's falchion) is shaped very much like a large cleaver or machete . This type is also illustrated in art. The type seems to be confined to

2784-473: The private collection mainly created by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), who left both it and the house to his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890), whose widow Julie Amelie Charlotte Castelnau bequeathed the entire collection to the nation. The collection opened to permanent public view in 1900 in Hertford House, and remains there to this day. A condition of

2842-472: The room. Displays: Eighteenth-century still lifes and portraits The room contains masterworks of French 18th-century portraiture by Nattier and Houdon and two oil sketches by Jean François de Troy , for decoration of Louis XV's dining room in Fontainebleau, shown to the king for approval. Displays: The Decorative Arts under Louis XIV Displays: Visitor Reception and Cloakroom This room

2900-794: The site of the residence of the US Ambassador. Between 1836-51 Hertford House was let for use as the French Embassy. His son Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), who expanded his father's art collection, lived most of his life in Paris, and rarely visited Hertford House, used "largely as a store for his ever-expanding art collection". He is said never to have visited his principal English country seat of Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. The 4th Marquess died in 1870, aged 70 in Paris, unmarried and without legitimate issue, and his titles and entailed estates, including

2958-413: The way Oakeshott typology addresses double edged swords of the same period. The Elmslie typology covers all types of single edged swords from the period, which encompasses all types of falchion, as well as similar sword types such as falcastro , messers, tessak , storta , early sabres , as well as transitional forms. For more information see Elmslie typology . An unsolved mystery exists as to why there

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3016-514: The wealthiest families in Europe. They owned large properties in England, Wales and Ireland, and increased their wealth through successful marriages. Politically of lesser importance, the 3rd and 4th Marquess and Sir Richard Wallace became leading art collectors of their time. The Wallace Collection, comprising about 5,500 works of art, was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. The state then decided to buy Hertford House to display

3074-459: The world's major collections of 18th-century Sèvres porcelain . It includes 137 vases, 80 tea wares, 67 useful wares, 3 biscuit figures and 130 plaques (mostly on furniture), and was acquired by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace between c. 1802–75. The Wallace Collection holds one of the most important collections of French furniture in the UK, and ranks alongside the Musée du Louvre ,

3132-448: Was formerly Sir Richard and Lady Wallace's breakfast room. As this photograph from c. 1890 shows, it contained a large cabinet filled with Sèvres porcelain dinner wares, probably more for use than decoration, and sixteen Dutch pictures. The French chimneypiece in this room was made in the mid-18th century and installed in this room when the house was modified for Sir Richard and Lady Wallace. Displays: Wallace Collection Shop This room

3190-474: Was formerly part of Sir Richard Wallace's coach house and stable yard. Displays: The Collector's Cabinet The Sixteenth-Century Gallery houses works of art from the Medieval and Renaissance periods and a group of important Renaissance paintings. This part of the Wallace Collection was mainly assembled by Sir Richard who, like many 19th-century collectors, was fascinated by the art and history of Europe during

3248-427: Was occupied during Sir Richard and Lady Wallace's lifetime by the family's housekeeper. Lady Wallace's housekeeper was Mrs Jane Buckley, a Londoner by birth. There were over thirty servants, including housemaids, kitchen maids, a lady's maid, a butler, footmen, a valet, coachmen, a groom and stable lads. Displays: East European, Turkish and Indo-Persian Arms, Armour and Works of Arts The Oriental arms and armour in

3306-453: Was the townhouse of a later junior branch of the family. It was built in 1776 by George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester who owned and developed the surrounding estate. It dominates the north side of the Square, where it occupies an island site, and was originally named "Manchester House". After being used as the Spanish Embassy 1791–1795 (evidenced by "Spanish Place" the street to the east of

3364-479: Was used to display the collection of paintings by Canaletto. Displays: Medieval and Renaissance Works of Art The Smoking Room exhibits paintings and works of art from the Medieval and Renaissance periods, including the greater part of Sir Richard Wallace's collection of Italian Renaissance maiolica. Sir Richard Wallace would have invited his male guests to the Smoking Room after dinner, to discuss affairs of

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