That is an amazing hanger capn! and very much in line with the cherub, green man etc. themes popular in early 17th c. on hilts in England and France. Again, these are hilt theme figures, so unusual to see them in a blade as a punzone.
Its really difficult to place effective explanations for these kinds of figures in sword decoration but aside from all the rather elaborate and diverse notes on cherubim, the one I find most intriguing is the Biblical association with these figures holding the flaming sword. The cases of the 'flaming sword' blade (flammard) is of course seen in various cases which may have had this kind of symbolic association as well. Naturally none of these suppositions is explained in references so we can only speculate on these highly symbolic themes.
Last edited by Jim McDougall; 24th August 2023 at 12:59 AM.
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