Ornamental sabre

Its curved blade has a wide back, two grooves run under the back edge, the upper one ending where the wide back starts, and the lower one at its centre. At the root of the blade, we can see the “king’s head” seal of Johann Wundes, sword-maker of Solingen working from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th. Beside it, in the lower groove of the blade, the name KAMUTHI is engraved, which indicates the blade was made for Balázs Kamuthy, who died in 1606. The cross-guard, made of gilded silver, gets wider at its ends, which form two pressed spheres divided into segments, both of them adorned with a turquoise stone. The bent hilt is decorated with three mounted turquoise stones and carved leaves with jagged edges. The pommel has a large mounted turquoise stone. The wooden scabbard used to be covered by red velvet, now faded, and equipped with gilded silver mounting. The upper part of the scabbard is adorned with Chinese-style cast, carved and chiselled motifs of clouds and half palm leaves, often used in Turkish decoration art as well. The bottom part, made of two separate pieces, is decorated in the same manner, the only difference being that on the chape we can also see carved and stylized leaves with jagged edges, just as on the back of the mountings of the scabbard. The weapon above is a lovely example of the “Porta style”, which means both its shape and motifs imitate a Turkish sabre. Gábor Duló, Captain at Korpona, former owner of the weapon, probably inherited the from Balázs Kamuthy, and then had it equipped by a Slovakian weaponsmith, maybe from the city of Kassa.