Ceremonial Civil Stylus In Engraved Steel – Northern Italy, 17th Century

Civil ceremonial stylus (stiletto da cintura) in fully engraved and chiseled steel, Northern Italy (Lombardy - Veneto), around 1620–1650.

Remarkable example of the Italian art of steel decoration in the first half of the 17th century, this ceremonial civil stylus is distinguished by the extreme finesse and homogeneity of its ornamentation. The blade, with a strictly diamond section and stiffened by a marked median edge, is designed for pure stoc, a typological characteristic of the Italian stiletto, an urban weapon of civil port and representation.

The mount features a cylindrical rocket finely engraved with continuous floral rinceaux, associated with a guard with short quillons decorated in suite and a sober discoid knob, together revealing a high-level Lombard-venitian workshop work. The decor, dense and perfectly controlled, testifies to a great virtuosity in the work of steel, a demanding material favored by Italian workshops, unlike contemporary French productions more often made of silver.

The stylus is preserved complete with its original sheath, also in engraved steel and decorated in perfect continuation of the same floral repertoire. The presence of this original sheath, perfectly adjusted to the blade and executed by the same hand, is an element of scarcity and a criterion of major interest, excluding any subsequent winding or association.

By its typology, its decoration and its excellent state of conservation, this set is fully in line with the tradition of Italian civil styluses of the seventeenth century preserved in public reference collections, including the Wallace Collection (London), the Museo delle Armi Luigi Marzoli (Brescia) and the Armeria du Castello Sforzesco (Milan).

Dimensions

– Total length: approx. 20.7 cm – Blade length: approx. 11.8 cm