Sword Hilt with Revolutionary Icons—Liberty Still Image

Gilded sword hilt topped with a lion's head, its open scrollwork featuring a female figure holding a balance beside a Phrygian cap on a pike, symbols of revolutionary liberty.

Dublin Core

Title

Sword Hilt with Revolutionary Icons—Liberty

Description

This sword, an actual artifact of the revolutionary wars, shows how strongly French officers and soldiers believed themselves to be fighting for the defense of liberty, which is represented by the woman holding the balance and by the Phrygian bonnet on a pike, both visible in the hilt. This example illustrates that even "masculine" objects such as swords depicted liberty as female.

Source

mfr 86.49

Relation

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/27/

Identifier

27

Citation

“Sword Hilt with Revolutionary Icons—Liberty,” LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY: EXPLORING THE FRENCH REVOUTION, accessed November 9, 2026, https://revolution.chnm.org/d/27.