Finely Chiseled Musketeer Sword Second Half Of 18th

It is a "musketeer" sword, which dates from the secongd half  of the 18th century, end of Louis XV period or early Louis XVI (1750-1780)
Quality of mount is obvious. The austerity of chiseled steel lightly gilted shows a good taste, far away from  the exuberance of "rocaille" decorations of the period.
BLADE: It is a blade with 3 hollow faces, with very sharp edges. The decorations are well in the tradition of these 3-sided blades: Trophies of arms and plant interlacing. We will nevertheless notice a curious discreet pattern on the external face which seems to be a radiant half sun, this pattern being typical of the arms of gentlemen attached to the Maison du Roi, buty as this is a civil sword, we cannot affirm this belonging.
The blade has oxidation marks but the chiseled patterns are perfectly visible.
Blade length = 79 cm, width near the guard 1.8 cm, thickness 1 cm. Balance point 4 cm from the hilt.
GUARD: This is a double kidney-shaped guard. The shells are very finely chiselled, both externally and internally. These carvings are discreetly enhanced with gold.
We find in the middle of each plate a rose in an oval, surrounded by gold. It is perhaps an allusion to the Virgin Mary, commonly called at the time already “The Mystical Rose”.
The edges of each tray are worked according to the difficult technique of "reperce" or "repercée", that is to say that they are treated in high relief and the decorations continue on each side, with openings that cross the board.
The "donkey step"s (finger rings) are  functional, which is an achaical pattern, since throughout the 18th century, they will not stop decreasing to end up being no more than decorative. .
They are discreetly decorated with small gold dots.
The central part of the hilt is also chiselled with a motif depicting a rose in a golden oval.
The quillon has a plant motif, it is also worked using the “repiercing” technique.
The guard branch is carved with plant motifs. It joins the pommel where it is fixed by a hook.
POMMEL : It is in the shape of an oval bulb, in chiseled iron, and here again we find the motif of the rose in a gold oval
GRIP : it is in wood covered with a sheet of brass ribbon, on which is placed a double twisted silver wire binding filigree. The "turk's heads" are in silver twisted binding.

It is therefore a very beautiful sword, which is the very illustration of the principle of elegance of gentlemen: "sober and in good taste".
Ref E-23WBP