Pillow Sword
1645–1655
- Medium
- steel, pierced; leather and wood
- Dimensions
- Overall: 93 cm (36 5/8 in.); Blade: 77.8 cm (30 5/8 in.); Quillions: 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.)
- Genre
- arms and armor
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Italy, 17th century
About
The "pillow-sword" is so-named because of where it was kept. A sword like this one, with a straight blade and relatively simple hilt, would have been suspended above a headboard within arm's reach for bedside defense should an intruder attack while the household was asleep and vulnerable.