Smallsword and scabbard

Small or dress sword (State Sword),
c. 1767,
Steel, silver, gilt

Status

On view

Label Text

Eighteenth-century gentlemen and officers wore smallswords on dress and ceremonial occasions as part of formal civilian and military attire. George Washington owned several of these jewel-like, lightweight weapons. This particular one, with an ornately engraved three-sided hollow blade, is distinguished by being depicted in Charles Willson Peale's 1772 portrait of Washington as a Virginia Colonel. Washington is also believed to have worn it when he resigned his commission as Commander in Chief in Annapolis in 1783 and when inaugurated as our nation's first president on April 30, 1789.

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Datec. 1767

Retailer Matthew Feesey, Cutler to His Majesty (British, 1703 - 1769)

Possible maker Appolone Rudkins

Geography Made - England

Medium/TechniqueSteel (blade); silver, gilt, wood (hilt); wood, vellum, silver (scabbard)

DimensionsOverall (Overall length): 40 5/8 in. (103.19 cm) Overall (Blade length): 33 3/4 in. (85.73 cm) Other (Scabbard): 33 3/8 in. (84.77 cm) Other (Hilt): 6 5/8 in. × 4 1/2 in. × 3 1/8 in. (16.83 cm × 11.43 cm × 7.94 cm)

Credit LineGift of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. 1909 Conservation courtesy of the Life Guard Society of Historic Mount Vernon

Object numberW-84/A-C

DescriptionSmallsword with en suite scabbard. Hilt of silver gilt, features ornately cast, pierced and faceted elements, including a plum-shape pommel, knucklebow, quillon block, and slightly dished oval counterguard. Two quillons and two, vestigial (non-functional) arms-of-the-hilt or finger rings. Fluted ferrules. Grip is spiral-wrapped with pairs of gilt silver wire spaced each side and alternating with a gilt silver ribbon forming a contrasting material between. Blade is of hollow triangular form; reinforced the initial third of the length, then tapers sharply to the point. Blade is etched near hilt end with scrollwork against a field of interlaced strap-work.

Published ReferencesErik Goldstein, Stuart C. Mowbray, and Brian Hendelson, The Swords of George Washington (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2016), 51-62.

Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 218-9, cat. 70.

James C. Rees, Treasures from Mount Vernon: George Washington Revealed (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1999), 104 (ill.).

Michael D. Coe et al., Swords and Hilt Weapons (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1989), 06 (ill.).

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 518-9, pl. I.

George C. Neumann, Swords and Blades of the American Revolution (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1973), 135, fig. 222.S (right).

Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. George Washington's Military Equipment (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1963), 11-14, fig. 4.

Warren Moore, Weapons of the American Revolution and Accoutrements (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1967), 148, E-38.

Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. General Washington's Swords and Campaign Equipment (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1944), pp. 6-8, 20-1, pl. II.

Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. Committee on Art and Exhibition, Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Portraits, Relics, and Silverware Exhibited at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, April 17th to May 8th, 1889 (New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 1889), #379, 86.

Several late 19th and early 20th-century newspaper clippings are also in the object file relating to the possible sale of the sword to the United States government, ca. 1895.

MarkingsFour stamps on the knucklebow’s terminus on the inner side: lion's head, leopard's head (London assay marks); "A R" (maker's mark); "M" in an incuse shield (date letter). Stamped with a lion passant on the shell guard before the blade (difficult to see amidst the faceted decoration).

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