The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Estoc

Estoc

early 1500s
Overall: 156.6 cm (61 5/8 in.); Blade: 125.3 cm (49 5/16 in.); Quillions: 26.2 cm (10 5/16 in.); Grip: 30 cm (11 13/16 in.)

Did You Know?

Swords like this one were developed to counteract and pierce the increasingly heavy armor and sophisticated plates that nearly covered a knight.

Description

The French word estoc means "thrust" and therefore was adopted as the name for this long thrusting sword. It has a fairly long grip and simple cross-shaped hilt. The rigid blade, designed for thrusting at armored opponents, is three-sided for strength. The estoc was sometimes carried from the saddle. From the early 1300s, it was used by cavalrymen as an auxiliary side arm when a horseman had dismounted.
  • Sauran
    Richard Zschille (1847-1903), Leipzig, Germany
    ?-1916
    Frank Gair Macomber (1849-1941), Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1916-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 1, 14th & 15th centuries. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915]. Mentioned and Reproduced: No. 34 [31] archive.org
    Gilchrist, Helen Ives. "Swords from the Severance Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 10, no. 1 (1923). pp. 2, 6-8, fig. D www.jstor.org
    Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924. Mentioned: p. 86, E5; Reproduced: Plate XX, E5 archive.org
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. p. 111, 168, cat. no.125
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. cat. no. 152, p. 190
    Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. Mùˆnchen: Hirmer, 2007. pp. 278-9, no. 104
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. cat. 110, p. 290
  • Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008).
    Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=Estoc|url=false|author=|year=early 1500s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.686