The “Moor’s Head” Sword in the Kaiser & Sultan Exhibition – Context, Symbolism, and Brâncoveanu’s Connection
Description and Context of the Object in the Exhibition
The sword displayed at the Landesmuseum Württemberg (in the Kaiser & Sultan exhibition) under the title “Vergoldeter Säbel mit sog. Mohrenkopf” (“Gilded Saber with So-Called Moor’s Head”) is an oriental ceremonial weapon, composed of a curved Ottoman blade (16th century) and a European hilt and guard, dated to the first quarter of the 17th century.
The pommel is shaped like the head of a Moor (an African male figure), an exotic decorative motif popular in European Renaissance and Baroque art (considered a sinnbild des Exoten – “symbol of the exotic”). The guard is richly ornamented: a gilded crossbar curves upward toward the handle and is formed as a dragon with outstretched wings; the dragon’s left wing in fact forms the guard’s side plate (resembling a shell). A unique mechanical feature was a fine chain: originally, a delicate chain extended from the dragon’s mouth to attach under the Moor’s chin. This zoomorphic ensemble (dragon and snake coiled around a wing), along with the Moor’s head, gives the sword a distinctly exotic appearance.
The sword blade – a typical Ottoman kilij – features an inscription in Cyrillic script (in Greek or Church Slavonic) and rich Christian decoration, indicating it was created specifically for a Christian Orthodox patron from Constantinople. The official photo and exhibition catalog note that the inscription comes “from the context of the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul,” suggesting a direct connection to the Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire.
From a museographic perspective, the piece belongs to the Rüstkammer (Armory) of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. In the 18th century, the sword was in the possession of the famous Elector of Saxony August the Strong (also King of Poland). Records show the sword was listed in August’s wardrobe inventory at his death (1733), and was later transferred, together with other oriental objects, into the electoral collections in Dresden – Türckische Cammer and Kurkammer. Subsequently, the sword and its scabbard were separated (after 1821), and only in the modern era – during the reorganization of the Turkish Chambers in Dresden – were the two re-matched, after curators realized they had been catalogued separately. This Saxon provenance explains why the hilt is Western in style (made in a German workshop, prior to its acquisition by August) – in effect, the Ottoman blade was re-mounted with a European decorative frame, enhancing its exotic and luxurious character.
The Connection Between the Sword and Constantin Brâncoveanu
There are strong indications that the blade of this sword belongs to a series of ceremonial swords commissioned by the Wallachian prince Constantin Brâncoveanu (r. 1688–1714). During his reign, Brâncoveanu – a Christian Orthodox ruler in a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire – either commissioned or received multiple ceremonial weapons richly adorned with Christian symbols, meant either for personal use or as diplomatic gifts to allies or patrons. Over time, many historians and researchers have identified several so-called Brâncoveanu swords that are nearly identical in style. By the 1930s, 13 such examples were known, and more recent research suggests the number may be as high as 19.
They all share a common iconography – burning candles, an image of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, angels, stars, religious inscriptions in Greek (using Cyrillic letters), and votive texts mentioning the name Constantin. For example, one sword in the Topkapı collection (Istanbul) bears an inscription:
“O Invincible King, Word of God, Almighty Ruler, grant the crown of victory over enemies to the Voivode and faithful Lord Constantin, as you once gave to Emperor Constantine the Great.”
This prayer, addressed to Christ, explicitly names Prince Constantin and compares him to Saint Emperor Constantine the Great – a clear invocation for divine protection and triumph over enemies. The motifs of the candles, the Virgin Mary, and the crown appear on all these swords, suggesting a deliberate and unified commission.
The sword from Stuttgart (Dresden) clearly fits into this group. Although the full inscription has not been published in the exhibition sources, the English description refers to a Greek inscription reading:
“Most Holy Mother of God, help your servant…, in the year of the Nativity of Christ…”
– flanked by ruby-inlaid rosettes, with space left for completing the year.
It is possible that the prince’s name was omitted or abbreviated (perhaps appearing after “your servant”), but the decorative composition matches that of other examples. Moreover, scholars note that the ensemble of Christian symbols on these blades is highly unusual for standard Ottoman weapons, suggesting a custom commission for a Christian prince under Ottoman rule.
As early as 1927, historian C. Marinescu reported the existence of three nearly identical swords attributed to Brâncoveanu, all decorated with “candles, the Virgin and Child, angels, and a crown” and bearing similar votive texts. Marinescu’s detailed descriptions perfectly match the swords in Stockholm and Dresden, confirming they belong to the same ceremonial series.
Additionally, documentary evidence confirms that Brâncoveanu diplomatically gifted such ornate swords to prominent figures of his time. Therefore, it is very likely that the Moor’s Head sword displayed in Stuttgart belonged—either directly or indirectly—to the treasury of Constantin Brâncoveanu. It may have been one of the prince’s personal weapons (perhaps not worn, but kept for ceremonial purposes), or one of the items intended as a gift to allies.
The provenance of other known Brâncoveanu swords supports this theory: after Brâncoveanu’s execution in Istanbul (1714), his ceremonial weapons were confiscated and entered either the sultan’s treasury or the international circuit through war and diplomacy.
For instance, a sword now in the Swedish History Museum (Livrustkammaren, Stockholm) comes from the Swedish royal collection and has a well-documented history: Karl von Nassau-Siegen obtained the sword after 1714 (likely as war booty in the Russo-Ottoman wars), and it later reached King Charles XIII of Sweden, then was donated to the museum by Charles XV, who inventoried it as an “oriental sword attributed to Constantin Brâncoveanu” (see my earlier post – A lost sabre of Constantin Brâncoveanu).
Similarly, it is suspected that the Dresden sword reached August the Strong through Tsar Peter the Great. Some (as yet unconfirmed) theories suggest the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople may have sent such swords bearing Christian inscriptions as gifts to the Russian court, with Russia posturing as protector of Orthodox Christians under Ottoman rule. In this scenario, Peter I may have passed one of these swords to his ally, August II of Saxony (August the Strong).
What is certain is that shortly after Brâncoveanu’s death, such ceremonial swords began appearing in the possession of European monarchs.
Symbols and Decorations: Iconographic Interpretation and Meanings
The Moor’s head (Mohrenkopf in German) on the pommel of the sword is a motif with multiple meanings. In Renaissance and Baroque European art, Moorish figures (North Africans, often Muslims) commonly appeared as exotic elements, reflecting the Western fascination with the Orient and Africa. The Moor’s head also appears in heraldry, for example in the coats of arms of noble families or cities in Central Europe, as a symbol of victory over non-Christians or participation in crusades.
In this sword’s case, the Moor’s head is finely crafted, with curly hair, a decorative hairband, and pearl earrings, suggesting a primarily aesthetic, exotic curiosity. However, the presence of the Moor’s head in a Wallachian prince’s ceremonial weapon may also symbolically represent the subjugation of the infidel. The chain that once linked the dragon’s mouth to the Moor’s chin might be read as a metaphor: the Christian (symbolized by the dragon, potentially an allusion to St. George) holds the infidel (the Moor) in check.
Although this interpretation may be speculative, it’s plausible that the armorers who designed the hilt intended a triumphalist message – the Victory of the Faith over the “infidel.” Regardless, in terms of Baroque aesthetics, the combination of an exotic human head and fantastical creatures (dragon, serpent) was designed to impress and underscore the object’s rarity and value.
The gilded shell on the guard – more precisely, the wing-shaped side plate – is also found on Central European ceremonial weapons. In this sword, the hand guard is shaped by the dragon’s wing, elegantly curving toward the grip. While it might resemble a baroque shell motif (coquillage, common in 17th-century ornamentation), it is in fact part of the dragon representation. The dragon itself, stretched along the guard, has a serpent or lizard biting its wing, and the entire zoomorphic ensemble is cast in brass and then gilded.
The dragon’s meaning on a Christian sword connects, as noted, to the iconography of St. George – a military saint revered in both Eastern (Orthodox) and Western Christianity.
But the most richly symbolic elements are on the blade itself. Based on comparisons with similar examples (Stockholm, Topkapı, Bucharest), the decoration on one side of the blade is arranged vertically in several registers:
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At the base of the blade, near the hilt: an oriental decorative cartouche (Ottoman-style floral arabesques), flanked by two burning candles in candlesticks – the candles rendered in silver, the rest of the decoration in gold.
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Above that: an oval medallion depicting the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus on her left arm. In some versions, the Child holds a lily flower (symbol of purity) or a five-petaled flower. The Virgin is the quintessential protective figure, invoked as Μήτηρ Θεοῦ (Mother of God), and protector of the prince.
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Above the medallion: one or more stars, including a six-pointed star (sometimes flanked by two or three smaller ones).
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Higher still: two angels (cherubs) holding an open crown with three fleurons. Interestingly, scholars observed that the crown does not resemble princely or royal crowns, but rather appears to be a crown dedicated to the Virgin Mary (who in Christian iconography is the Queen of Heaven).
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The inscription itself is incorporated into the decoration, either in one or two parallel lines, framed by floral motifs or rosettes. Depending on the space available, some blades have the full inscription, including the name of the voivode and sometimes the year of production. Other examples – like the sword returned from the Louvre in 1940 – have incomplete inscriptions due to corrosion or lack of space. For instance, the Bucharest sword retains only the initial formula:
“[O Christ], You, invincible king, Word of God and Lord…”
On the Dresden sword, the text (as translated into English by the German curators) is a prayer to the Virgin Mary:
“Most Holy Mother of God, help your servant…”,
leaving room for a name or year.
In any case, the meaning of the inscription is deeply religious: either a prayer to Christ to grant the prince victory, or a plea to the Virgin to aid her servant. These inscriptions were composed in 15-syllable verse (a form noted by the 19th-century Byzantinist Victor Langlois), reminiscent of church hymns. In essence, the prince consecrated his sword with these sacred words, turning it from an ordinary weapon into a ceremonial object with talismanic power.
All these elements – candles, the Virgin Mary, angels, crown, and prayer – compose a coherent iconographic message: Constantin Brâncoveanu, a Christian voivode, places his hope in divine protection. He sees himself as a new Constantine the Great, fighting under the sign of the Cross against his enemies (whether Ottomans or others), with the Virgin Mary as patron and St. George as model.
This message was both political and diplomatic: Brâncoveanu walked a fine line between the Ottoman Empire (to which he was formally subject) and Christian powers (like the Habsburgs and Russia). His luxuriously adorned swords with Christian symbols could serve as diplomatic gifts to major Christian allies, underlining his loyalty to the shared faith and requesting their support against the Ottoman threat.
Indeed, a nearly identical sword was reportedly gifted by the city of Bucharest to the Russian general Mihail Miloradovich, as a gesture of gratitude in the early 19th century – a sign that the Brâncoveanu ceremonial sword had become a symbol of Christian anti-Ottoman alliance.
Origin and Historical Journey of the Sword
The original workshop for the blade appears to have been in Constantinople, likely within the circles of the Orthodox Patriarchate or Christian metalworking guilds in the Fanar district. In the late 17th century, such ornamental weapons were specially commissioned by princes of the Romanian Lands and other Christian elites within the Ottoman Empire.
The Dresden sword’s blade is made of high-quality Damascus steel, with gold decorations and even ruby inlays in some places – a detail indicating the work of a highly skilled artisan, probably the same who crafted other nearly identical blades (confirmed by the existence of similar pieces in collections in St. Petersburg – the Hermitage and the Kremlin).
It is worth noting that some examples retained their original Oriental hilts – for example, a sword in Topkapı features a rhinoceros horn handle and a red gold guard. However, the swords in Dresden and Stockholm lost their original hilts over time and were refitted: the Stockholm sword now has a Polish karabela-style hilt, added probably in the 18th century (no guard), while the Dresden sword has a German mount with a Moor’s head, added before 1733.
Provenance in Collections
After Brâncoveanu’s execution (15 August 1714), his belongings were confiscated by the Ottomans. Sultan Ahmed III was reportedly furious over the hidden wealth of the Wallachian ruler and attempted to recover the full treasury. Many of Brâncoveanu’s precious objects found at his residence in Istanbul entered the imperial treasury – explaining the presence of three Brâncoveanu swords in the Topkapı Sarayı (Weapons Hall), inventoried in the 19th century.
One of these (inventory no. 2682) is considered by specialists the best preserved, and there’s speculation it may be the sword Brâncoveanu was carrying at the time of his arrest. That piece remains in Istanbul. Other swords, however, made their way into Europe.
It’s possible that Tsar Peter the Great obtained one after the Treaty of Adrianople or during the Pruth Campaign (1711), when he had contacts with Brâncoveanu. Although the prince hesitated to openly join the Russians, the tsar later assumed the role of protector of Brâncoveanu’s family and sent envoys to Constantinople for this purpose.
Thus, it’s conceivable that one of Brâncoveanu’s swords reached the Russian court either as a gift during his lifetime or as post-war spoils acquired by the Russians. This may explain why Russian general Radu Rosetti identified at least eight Brâncoveanu swords in Russian collections around 1900 (including at the Hermitage and the Sheremetev collection). One of these was reportedly gifted to General Miloradovich, and others were held by Prince Lvov and others.
The Stockholm sword’s path likely followed this pattern: confiscated by the Ottomans, it probably reached Karl von Nassau-Siegen, who served as an officer in Russia and took part in the Russo-Turkish wars of 1736–1739, including at the siege of Ochakov. He could have received the sword from Ottoman spoils, and it later ended up with the Swedish royal family, officially cataloged as a “sabre of Konstantin II Brâncoveanu” in 1873 (see previous entry – A lost sabre of Constantin Brâncoveanu).
In the case of the Dresden sword, curator Holger Schuckelt (SKD Dresden) states that the exact means by which it reached August the Strong is unknown, but it's presumed that Tsar Peter I gifted the weapon during the Russo-Saxon alliance. Peter the Great visited Dresden in 1711 and again in 1712–1713, and is known to have given precious gifts to his hosts. If he had received the sword from the Patriarch or otherwise acquired it, it is plausible that he passed it to August.
Thus, by 1733, the sword appears in the inventory of August’s wardrobe. After his death, his son Friedrich August II moved the oriental objects into the state collections, where the sword remained for centuries. Over time, it was forgotten in the Armory’s storage, especially after being separated from its scabbard. The rediscovery of the matching scabbard and the sword’s inclusion in the Kaiser & Sultan exhibition (2019) revived attention to its authentic origin and historical value.
Comparison with Other Known Brâncoveanu Swords
To confirm the identity of the “Mohrenkopf” sword, it is useful to compare it with its known counterparts:
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Bucharest Sword (National Military Museum): This is the sword recovered from the Louvre by the Romanian state in 1940. The blade is 93 cm long, decorated on one side with two candles, the Virgin and Child, angels, and a crown – the exact same elements mentioned above – but in poor condition (parts of the decoration are missing, inscription only partial). It lacks a guard (karabela-style hilt), suggesting either the original guard was lost or it was made without one. Experts date the blade to the late 17th century, and the Louvre’s records affirmed its authenticity – it came from the Marteau collection via the antiquarian Demotte, and was identified by Scarlat Lambrino in the registers.
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Stockholm Sword (Livrustkammaren): Cataloged as a “kilij attributed to Constantin Brâncoveanu,” it has an 875 mm long blade, richly decorated in gold and silver with the same symbols: oriental cartouche, two candles, Virgin and Child (the child holding a flower), a star, two angels, and an open crown. The hilt is karabela-style, with ebony grip plates and silver rivets, ending in a stylized bird head pommel. The museum notes explicitly that the blade and hilt do not originally belong together, confirming the practice of re-equipping such blades over time. It lacks a scabbard. Swedish literature describes it as “krigsbyte” – war booty – consistent with the Nassau-Siegen provenance. It is almost identical to the Bucharest sword and closely resembles the Dresden sword, differing mainly in hilt design. The fact that the Swedish museum officially attributes it to Brâncoveanu strengthens the entire series’ authenticity.
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Turin Sword (Armeria Reale): First mentioned in 1878 by Cezar Esarcu, it remains in the Royal Armory of Turin and is said to be well preserved, with a complete inscription and date. It was analyzed by Marinescu (1926) and Frédéric Macler (1926), who wrote about a “sword with a Greek inscription” – very likely this one. Angelo Scrinzi (1900) compared it with a “Byzantine sword from Syra” and a “Kapnist sword” in Venice’s Civic Museum. Although details on its decoration are lacking, all sources indicate that the Turin sword belongs to the same group.
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Other Examples: A sword acquired by the Brâncoveanu Settlements in Bucharest from antiquarian Manukian in Paris (noted by Marinescu) – possibly the one later recovered by the state. In 1928, Nicolae Iorga noted a Brâncoveanu sword in Berlin, discovered by diplomat C. Karadja. That sword may now be in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, or may have been lost in WWII. Iorga also referred to “eight other swords” identified by Gen. Rosetti in Russia (as mentioned earlier, at the Hermitage, the Sheremetev collection, and possibly inventory no. 268 – perhaps the same as Topkapı’s 2682).
Thus, by comparing all these specimens, a clear pattern emerges: all have richly engraved Christian symbols, the same type of inscription, and date from the same period. The Dresden sword’s uniqueness lies in its German hilt with a Moor’s head, unlike the other examples (which have no guard or Oriental/Polish-style mounts). This might suggest it was customized for August the Strong, aligning with its provenance.
Still, the “heart” of the sword – the blade – unquestionably belongs to the Brâncoveanu group. Its preservation within a Western collection has ensured the complete survival of its decoration, making it extremely valuable for research, alongside its counterparts in Istanbul, Stockholm, Bucharest, and elsewhere.
Conclusion: The Probability of a Link to Brâncoveanu
Summarizing the evidence, the Moor’s Head sword from Stuttgart has an extremely strong connection to Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu. The unique Christian decoration, votive inscription (even if partially preserved), and numerous parallels with other documented Brâncoveanu swords form a compelling picture.
Recent studies confirm the existence of a coherent group of ceremonial Christian swords from the 17th–18th centuries linked to Brâncoveanu, and this sword clearly fits that group. The probability of a genuine Brâncoveanu origin is very high – we can state that, directly or indirectly, the sword was his: either personally wielded, or intended for diplomatic gifting, eventually making its way to Dresden.
Nothing contradicts this attribution – on the contrary, all signs point to Brâncoveanu. Western museums (like the Louvre and Livrustkammaren) have officially acknowledged the provenance, and Romanian scholars have thoroughly documented the Brâncoveanu sword series, finding perfect iconographic matches.
In conclusion, the “Vergoldeter Säbel mit Mohrenkopf” in the Kaiser & Sultan exhibition is not just an exotic showpiece, but a first-class historical artifact of Constantin Brâncoveanu’s era. Its Christian and Oriental symbols and its journey through European royal collections allow us to link this artifact with the dramatic fate of the martyred prince. The connection to Brâncoveanu is highly probable in the eyes of specialists, making this gilded saber a shared Romanian–European heritage object, where faith, art, and politics of the 17th century intertwine.
Text sources: „Mohrenkopf” sabre– description of the Kaiser & Sultan exposition, study by Holger Schuckelt, SKD Dresda; C. Marinescu / Emil Vârtosu (rezumat în Revista Dunărea de Jos, nr.156/2014); Muzeul Militar Național - O mărturie importantă din patrimoniul Muzeului Militar Național “Regele Ferdinand I”: Sabia atribuită domnitorului Constantin Brâncoveanu - Cuvântul Liber);
Picture source: https://kaiserundsultan.landesmuseum.de/
For more information about Prince Constantin Brancoveanu and his reign you can check the following page
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