80. Auction

Hunting cleaver (Waidpraxe), iron hilt, staghorn grip, copper double-crown mark, 18th/19th century

Steel, iron, copper, staghorn. Hunting cleaver (Waidpraxe, Praxe) with broad, slightly bellied back-edged blade tapering to a point. Iron cross hilt with straight quillons split at the ends and round shell guard at the blade root; in the centre piece of the hilt an inset round copper plaque with double crown, two crowns struck one above the other. Staghorn grip with iron pommel cap with ball finial. Without scabbard. Blade cleaned, with rust pitting, the iron with age patina. L. 57 cm, blade length 43.5 cm, blade width approx. 5 cm.

The Waidpraxe, Praxe for short, is the heavy chopping knife of courtly hunting, a special form of the billhook, and from the 16th century formed the principal piece of the hunting trousse (Waidbesteck) with which the killed game was broken up: the broad blade served for cutting up, the small knives, fork and awl carried in the scabbard for gutting. Characteristic of the type are the heavy single-edged blade with broad back, the iron cross hilt and the staghorn grip; smiths' marks in copper inlay are recorded on Saxon Waidpraxen of the 17th century. Particularly many such hunting trousses have survived from Saxony: a hunting trousse made in Dresden with the arms and initials of Elector Christian II from 1609 is held by the Art Institute of Chicago, another from the 18th century by the arms collection of the von Pückler family at Branitz Castle. In hunting, the Praxe stood alongside the hunting hanger, which served for dispatching the game.