An Exceptional Etched Cabasset

c. 1612 – 19

German, Nuremberg. Steel. 1

Provenance

Private collection, Sweden in

The flat-brimmed cabasset or ‘Spanish’ morion shown here is part of that tradition. It is very light, of one-piece construction with a plain, inward turned main edge, showing that its must date to the years around 1600, and is lavishly etched with panels of foot guards with short spears, in contemporary dress, an eagle armed with a sword and sceptre defending the imperial crown, and the arms of Emperor Matthias I (1557–19) over a double eagle displayed, near a collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece and surmounted by the mitre-like imperial crown and his MAS monogram. The helmet retains its original lining rivets, themselves retaining much of the original leather lining band, and is stamped inside the brim with the pearled N mark of the Nuremberg guild.

Almost exactly the same decorative scheme, arms and monograms are found on a group of etched halberds for the emperor’s eight personal foot bodyguards (Liebtrabanten, see Bagi 2016) dated 1612, two formerly in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (nos A 2272 and 2256), sold Christies 2019, lot 101, and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, nos 14.25.387, 14.25.461, Philadelphia Museum of Art no. 1977-167-375.