Images(3)

Lion-Head Hanger

Date1690-1720

OriginEngland

MediumBrass, iron & steel

DimensionsOL: 32 1/2", Hilt: 5 3/8", Blade: 27 1/4" x 1 3/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2005-258

DescriptionCast brass hilted hanger with dog's head pommel intergrally cast with a flat-sided grip bearing finger ridges and panels of scales. Plain, swelling knucklebow connected to tri-petaled outboard counterguard cast with a facing leonine or canine mask. Plain, flat quillon with swollen terminal. Inboard counterguard, similar but smaller than the surviving one, was removed during the period of use. Of typical hanger form, the single edged & slightly curved blade has a narrow fuller reaching to within 6 1/2" inches of the tip
Label TextCast brass hilted hanger with dog's head pommel intergrally cast with a flat-sided grip bearing finger ridges and panels of scales. Plain, swelling knucklebow connected to tri-petaled outboard counterguard cast with a facing leonine or canine mask. Plain, flat quillon with swollen terminal. Inboard counterguard, similar but smaller than the surviving one, was removed during the period of use. Of typical hanger form, the single edged & slightly curved blade has a narrow fuller reaching to within 6 1/2" inches of the tip

Dozens of identical examples survive in both the collection of the Royal Armouries in Leeds, Yorkshire and in the arms display at Hampton Court, where they were installed in 1700. Numerous other examples have been noted in both private and institutional collections, and may have been deaccessioned in the distant past from stores kept at the Tower of London from dismantled 17th-18th c. arms displays. Hangers of this type were noted in a 1753 Tower guide books in arms displays at the Small Armoury.

Likely ex. Tower of London, Royal Armouries
MarkingsBoth blade faces are struck with a large, outlined fleir-de-lis, distinguished by the diamoned shaped terminus to the central petal, as seen on many other British martial blades of the period. Top of the quillon punched "49."
ProvenanceLikely ex. Tower of London, Royal Armouries