A rare late 17th century hanger

Jim McDougall · 17th May 2013, 09:12 PM

Good catch Mark on the associations with cherubs on the hilts and thier occurrence on tombstones and the 'memento mori' theme. Interestingly one of these type hangers with cherub faces and an intriguing sigil or device on the blade appear in the June issue of "Man at Arms" magazine. It is I believe featured as well in Stuart Mowbray's new book "British Military Swords: Volume One 1600-1660", with volume two pending.

Actually, in much the same sense of the theme mentioned, the cherubs are associated with swords and Biblical passages aligned with the flaming sword guardinng the gates of Paradise in the book of Genesis. These kinds of motif also seem to have neen nuanced with some Masonic themes through the 18th century but these ideas are mostly speculative. It is interesting however that the cherub motif in the example in Man at Arms are in context with a marking very similar to various glyphs and characters used by certain fraternal groups. The 'Green Man' theme is also occurring on hangers and swords of 1650s-90s.

17th May 2013, 09:12 PM	#7
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,194	Good catch Mark on the associations with cherubs on the hilts and thier occurrence on tombstones and the 'memento mori' theme. Interestingly one of these type hangers with cherub faces and an intriguing sigil or device on the blade appear in the June issue of "Man at Arms" magazine. It is I believe featured as well in Stuart Mowbray's new book "British Military Swords: Volume One 1600-1660", with volume two pending. Actually, in much the same sense of the theme mentioned, the cherubs are associated with swords and Biblical passages aligned with the flaming sword guardinng the gates of Paradise in the book of Genesis. These kinds of motif also seem to have neen nuanced with some Masonic themes through the 18th century but these ideas are mostly speculative. It is interesting however that the cherub motif in the example in Man at Arms are in context with a marking very similar to various glyphs and characters used by certain fraternal groups. The 'Green Man' theme is also occurring on hangers and swords of 1650s-90s.