Subject: Schwarz Reiter 'black rider' mercenary cavalry
Culture: German
Setting: Germany / western Europe mid-late 16thc
Object: armor
Metropolitan Museum of Art > Stone Gallery of Arms and Armor *
"Armor Steel, etched and blackened Northern German (possibly Brunswick), about 1560-65 This is one of a group of finely etched armors made for the court of Duke Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1528-1589). The armors are similarly decorated with satyrs, allegorical figures, and grotesques, many of which are derived from prints by Cornelis Bos and Virgil Solis. They are further distinguished, as is the armor displayed here, by the device on the breast: a quatrefoil above a crowned heart, which is flanked by two pairs of clasped hands and the initials HI. The scene depicted in the quatrefoil is that of Daniel in the lion's den. Around the border runs an inscription that reads in translation, 'Oh God, protect no more than my body, soul, property, and honor.' It is thought that this group of armors was commissioned around 1563 to commemorate the reconciliation of Julius and his father, Duke Heinrich (died 1568), and the reinstatement of Julius to the ducal succession." ...
* Royal Ontario Museum > Samuel European Galleries > Arms and Armor
"Bourguignotte allemande Avec timbre pointu, imitation des casques turcs. Acier, avec oreillons restaurés. Allemagne méridionale, Nuremberg, vers 1540-1550. Poinçon de la ville de Nuremberg sur la visière horizontale." ...
Harwood International > Harwood 10 *
* Royal Ontario Museum > Samuel European Galleries > Arms and Armor
"Bourguignotte allemande
Allemagne méridionale, Nuremberg, vers 1540-1550. ...
Ce genre de casque léger et ouvert était trés en vogue dans la cavalerie au XVIe siècle et remplaça le casque clos."
"Cuirasse autrichienne
Avec plastron, dossière, braconnière et tassettes. Signé <<H.H.>>, le plastron est l'oeuvre de Hans Horbürger l'Ancien en activité de 1556 à 1586. Innsbruck, vers 1560. ...
Le plastron, doté d'un arrêt de cuirasse, était destiné à la cavalerie qui se battait encore à la lance. On le convertissait en armure complète pour la bataille en y ajoutant un casque clos et des protections de plates pour les jambes et les bras."
