Sinhala / Sri Lankan Swords?

[Jim McDougall]

Another grouping of stortas from Boccia & Coelho (upper left #509) is from Venice c.1600.

(upper right, #543, #544) are both from Naples c. 1600-10

below #386, 387, 388 are from Venice c 1550, note the recurved crossguards reflecting basic form of developing hit system, also the human and lionheads.

* The late Tony North in his "Late 15th Century Italian Sword" (Connoisseur, 1975) notes the developed hilt system similar to nimcha of North Africa and of course kastane probably developed from this type sword hilt, citing Charles Buttin with concurring views.

Quite interesting is the sketch of a zoomorphic head in carved ivory from Italy (#389) dating from c1554. Of note, the deeply channeled fullers cf. those seen in the Hasekura kastane. Again, there are many Italian swords with these deeply channeled fullers, often in elaborate sectioning.