Boar sword cross bar

[Victrix]

I had the great fortune to visit the Imperial armoury at the Hofburg in Vienna. They had a couple of boar hunting swords speciments. Please see below for some amateur photos.

[Foxbat]

Thank you for the pictures, they do provide some additional insight!

[Victrix]

I’m glad you enjoyed the photos Foxbat. Unfortunately the lighting was weak in the museum. In fact I triggered the alarm when I came too close to photograph some halberds makers marks. I’m glad they didn’t throw me out

Merry Christmas to all.

[Philip]

Note the inclusion of another pig poker -- the boar SPEAR in one of the images -- it's a famous one, part of a four-piece garniture (also including a marshal's baton and 2 swords) by Milanese armorers Daniele and Giovanni Battista Serravalle, ca 1560, for Archduke Ferdinand II of Tirol. Note the addorsed boar heads at the base of the leaf shaped blade. A wonderful thing, if you're interested there's a half page color image in Lionello Boccia / Eduardo Coelho, ARMI BIANCHE ITALIANE (Editrice Bramante, 1975), item no. 413.

[broadaxe]

General article I wrote several years ago on that topic, I wasn't aware back then about boar swords with permanently-fixed crossbars.
Requires registration via either Google or Facebook:
https://www.academia.edu/34183655/Hunting_Swords

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by broadaxe

General article I wrote several years ago on that topic, I wasn't aware back then about boar swords with permanently-fixed crossbars.
Requires registration via either Google or Facebook:
https://www.academia.edu/34183655/Hunting_Swords

Cool pdf, i note you got the young steven segal to pose for the title photo...

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by Philip

Note the inclusion of another pig poker -- the boar SPEAR in one of the images -- it's a famous one, part of a four-piece garniture (also including a marshal's baton and 2 swords) by Milanese armorers Daniele and Giovanni Battista Serravalle, ca 1560, for Archduke Ferdinand II of Tirol. Note the addorsed boar heads at the base of the leaf shaped blade. A wonderful thing, if you're interested there's a half page color image in Lionello Boccia / Eduardo Coelho, ARMI BIANCHE ITALIANE (Editrice Bramante, 1975), item no. 413.

I recently visted Kalmar Castle on the East coast of Sweden and spotted this decoration in the ceiling, depicting a medieval wild boar hunt with the use of boar spears.

[Philip]

Thanks for posting this image! Would you happen to know approximately what year the interior and its decoration were installed? I'm trying to pin a date on the scene itself, the costumes look a couple of centuries more recent than medieval.

No big deal in and of itself -- even if it's 18th cent. the important thing is that it helps show the consistency of the basic boar spear concept across borders and centuries. The 15th cent, spear attributed to Prince Boris Aleksandrovich (Moscow Kremlin inv.no. 5867) would not, save for superficial decoration on its socket, be out of place among the modern piggy pokers sold in some gun shops catering to hunters in Germany and Poland. If it works, don't muck with it...

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by Philip

Thanks for posting this image! Would you happen to know approximately what year the interior and its decoration were installed? I'm trying to pin a date on the scene itself, the costumes look a couple of centuries more recent than medieval.

No big deal in and of itself -- even if it's 18th cent. the important thing is that it helps show the consistency of the basic boar spear concept across borders and centuries. The 15th cent, spear attributed to Prince Boris Aleksandrovich (Moscow Kremlin inv.no. 5867) would not, save for superficial decoration on its socket, be out of place among the modern piggy pokers sold in some gun shops catering to hunters in Germany and Poland. If it works, don't muck with it...

Kalmar Castle has origins from the 12thC and is situated on Sweden’s Baltic coast. There were a lot of Germans living there and I think it was a Hanseatic city at some time? The castle was expanded and modernized over the centuries due to its strategic location. This particular hunting scene is in the King’s Chamber of Swedish king Erik XIV and the ceiling is dated 1562 on the panels. It seems to me that the costumes and weapons used are compatible with that date, certainly not 18thC. The room was renovated in the mid 19thC.