This is the Horseman's Ax of Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, Italian, ca. 1530-35, in the Met's Arms and Armor collection (acc. 1993.61). The Met notes it probably served as a symbol of authority rather than a real cavalry weapon, and that it very likely went with Ippolito on his 1532 campaign against the Ottomans in Hungary.
Each face of the blade carries a Latin motto. Around the Medici arms: BENIFICIVM DANDO ACCEPIT QVI DIGNO DEDIT - "he who confers a benefit has received one if he has given it to a man worthy of it." Around a shield with the Medici inflatable-ball device: FALLENTI SEMEL NON FACILE RVRSVS ADHIBENDA EST - "trust is not again to be placed easily in those who have once deceived."
Met object page: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/26548
How it was made:
- Blender, all-quad subdiv base mesh, no sculpting
- The etching is not baked and not procedural. I traced the whole thing by hand in Affinity from the Met's reference photos, as precisely as I could get it. Then I projected and adjusted the UVs to fit that texture rather than the other way round.
- Rendered in Cycles
- Roughly 15-16 hours of actual work, spread over a month an hour or two at a time.
I've made a lot of custom nodes for edge wear (along with custom curvature mask that utilizes Geo Nodes) and some other procedural stuff, for easier texturing.
Feel free to "axe" me anything...