A Fine Silver Mounted Hunting Hanger

Object Description

A Fine Silver Mounted Hunting Hanger
The pommel mounted with a silver gilt recumbent lion
Steel, silver, agate, leather
England
Late 17th Century

Size: 74cm long – 29¼ ins long / 77cm long – 30¼ ins long (with leather scabbard)

Object History

Provenance:
Ex Private collection

Object Literature

cf:
For two similar hunting hangers see Finch and Co, catalogue number 25, winter 2015, item number 37 a. and b.

The hunting hanger was also a status symbol. Sometimes their ivory or agate handles would be richly embellished with jewels proudly displayed in sets of engraved steel hunting accessories and worn at the belt by European princes. Hunting and forestry officials could be distinguished by the design of their hunting swords and their manner of wearing them. Swords with cross guards and slightly curved blades were used by hunters of lower game whose task it was to cut up the carcasses.
Today hunting has not lost its cultural significance, although it has, over the course of thousands of years of history, lost its vital role in human survival.

Object Details