PETER FINER ~ Highlights ~ 2022

P E T E R

F I N E R

FINE ANTIQUE AR MS, AR MOUR & REL ATED OBJECTS

CONTENTS

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A Sallet c. 1490

An Etched and Gilt Comb Morion worn by a member of the Trabantenleibgarde of the PrinceElectors of Saxony, c. 1570 – 1600

10 A Painted Morion (Zuccotto Aguzzo) from the guard of a Venetian Nobleman c. 1580 – 1600

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A Composite Early Fluted ‘Maximilian’ Three-Quarter Length Field Armour

11 An Etched Comb Morion (Morione tondo) c. 1590 – 1600

c. 1505 – 15

3

A Relief Fragment of a Sculpted Tomb Effigy of an Armoured Knight

12 A French Cuirassier Armour c. 1615 – 1620

c. 1510 – 20

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A Rare Pollaxe late 15 century th

13 A Glaive Made for the Guard of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II dated 1564

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A Shaffron attributed to Koloman Helmschmid c. 1525

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14 An Important Renaissance Handand-a-Half Sword c. 1490 – 1500

An Important Augsburg Light Field Armour, by the Habsburg Court Armourer Desiderius Helmschmid and Jörg Sorg, Dated 1545

15 Two Etched State Halberd carried by the Trabantenleibgarde of Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, dated 1589

An Embossed and Gilt Breastplate

16 A Left-Hand Dagger of the Trabantenleibgarde of the Prince Electors of Saxony

c. 1550 – 60

and 1611

late 16th century – early 17th century

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An Etched and Gilt Comb Morion c. 1560 – 70

17 A Very Rare English Rapier c. 1635

18 A Bear Spear Head late 16 century th

27 A Pair of Presentation Quality Silver-mounted Flintlock Holster Pistols by Wilson London Silver Hallmarks for 1782

19 A Saxon Etched State Halberd carried by members of the Electoral Leibtrabanten zu Fuß

28 A Cased Pair of Percussion Pistols Presented to the Duke of Valencia, dated 1847, by Eusebio Zuloaga

early 17th century

20 Two State Partisan carried by Polish Officers of the Guard of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August II c. 1725 – 33

21 A Historic Pair of Bronze Cannon Cast by the Spanish Gun founder Mathias Solano dated 1747

22 A Nuremberg Wheellock Sporting Carbine

29 A Cut Steel and Gold Presentation Snuff Box, Made for Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson c. 1800 – 1802

30 A Royal Gold and Enamel Presentation Sword by John Ray and James Montague London hallmarked 1801 – 1802

31 A Rare Medieval Tibetan Quiver 15th – 16th century

c. 1570 – 80

23 An Exceptional Wheel-Lock Sporting Carbine

32 A Leg Defence, or Dizçek late 15th century

c. 1590 – 1600

24 A Silesian Wheellock Birding Rifle (Tschinke) c. 1650 – 80

25 A Pair of Dresden Long Flintlock Holster Pistols in the Paris Royal Court taste, by Le Bearnois c. 1700

26 A Fine Pair of English Silver Mounted Flintlock Holster Pistols

by Henry Hadley, London c. 1761

33 A Very Fine and Elegant Dagger, or Khanjar 17th – 18 th century

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A Sallet c. 1490 Probably Flemish Steel and gold 48.25 cm / 10 in × 31.75 cm / 12.5 in PROVENANCE Private collection, United Kingdom

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rom the 1430s onwards, the sallet, distinguishable from other kinds of medieval helmets because of its ‘tail’ at the wearer’s nape, became the favourite head-defence in north-west Europe, and remained popular there into the early sixteenth century.

Though a version with a pointed skull, called by some the ‘Burgundian’ type, was widely use in England, many sallets worn there were imported from the internationally renowned armourers of north Italy who made them almost exclusively for export. Earlier sallets were intended for wear with a face-defence called a bevor, but by the last decade of the fifteenth century a variant with a deeper visor, protecting the face and chin, had become popular.

Helmets and plate armour used in England during the late Middle Ages survived in churches: knight’s tombs often featured heraldic funerary achievements in which their armour featured. Preserved among such ‘achievements’ are a rare group of sallets, of which the present example is one. The condition of the helmet along with its gold-painted borders and evidence of its former possession of an apical spike for the attachment of a crest, show it to have been preserved in a church, subsequent to its working life. Despite the decades of research that have been devoted to the subject of armour from English churches, no archival evidence relating to the original provenance of the present sallet is recorded, though it contributes a valuable piece to the overall jigsaw of the armour worn in medieval England.

A sallet in The Wallace Collection, London (no. A.72) is fitted with an articulated tail like the present, and several helmets and detached visors of this type were preserved in the armoury of the Knights of St John at Rhodes, of which one complete example still survives in the Palace Armoury, Valetta, and three detached visors are now in the Royal Armouries (IV.438–40).

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A Composite Early Fluted ‘Maximilian’ Three-Quarter Length Field Armour c. 1505 – 15 Southern Germany. Steel, copper alloy and leather.

Two neck lames replaced 185 cm / 72.5 in × 78cm / 31.25 in PROVENANCE Private collection, USA

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ne of the most arresting equestrian portraits of the German Renaissance is a woodcut by Hans Burgkmair the Elder of The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who reigned 1493-1519. Dated 1508, this portrait presents the emperor in the Italianate postgothic ‘rippled’ or fluted armour, by then the height of taste at the Habsburg court, and representative of the revival of the medieval knightly ideal. Drawn in direct profile and with an astonishing clarity of detail, the image is as much a perfect study of the new armour as it is the Emperor’s portrait.

By 1500 Maximilian’s enthusiastic patronage of the highly skilled Augsburg armourers had undoubtedly progressed the development of a new and distinctly rounded style of proto-fluted armour. This development was, in effect, a stylistic bridge between the dazzling German High Gothic style, which has reached its zenith by 1485-90, and the sculpturally perfect forms which were characteristic of the gothic armourers of Milan and Brescia. In furtherance of his passion, Maximilian established the imperial armour workshops in Innsbruck in 1504. His influence over armour design and production throughout the lands encompassed in the Holy Roman Empire was such that, for modern students, his name is synonymous with fluted armour of the early 16th century.

The present armour is a well-proportioned representation of exactly this early development of fluted South German armour; the constituent elements of its construction involve rare surviving

early examples which are exceptionally well-matched together.

The breastplate, with its original continuous fauld (skirt) and tassets (the upper thigh defences), is striking in this respect: the breastplate is rounded in the Italian manner and finished with gothic-styled plain angular flanged turns across the neck and at the arm openings. The latter are notably constructed without moveable gussets, a feature retained from both the earlier German and Italian gothic styles. The main plate is decorated with three fans of fluting what radiate from the base to a point just above the middle, the shortness and spread of this fluting, without the horizontal closure of a fluted upper border, is again an early feature of transition from the German gothic.

The waistplate fitted beneath the main plate carries a fauld of four articulated plates, and these in turn suspend a pair of articulated tassets. All of these plates are decorated in an identical reflection of the fluted design on the breast. The lance-rest is of the German ‘altartig’ type and decorated with inlaid bands of latten.

An interesting comparison with these plates are the near-identical corresponding elements of a fluted armour produced in Nuremberg circa 1505, today preserved in the former imperial collection in Vienna (A 192). A further example of a breastplate of this fluted type exists in Florence, while a statue of St. George in the Bavarian National Museum, Munich, illustrates the breastplate.

The backplate is a good stylistic match with both the breast and the fluted main plates of the collar, although both of these elements may originate closer to 1510-15. The waist plate carries a skirt of three articulated plates, their fans of fluting well-matched with those of the main plate.

The arm defences are constructed with elegant tubular vambraces decorated with early V-shaped groups of flutes and fitted with cowters with large flat fluted wings with V-shaped gutters. The latter compare very closely with those of an Innsbruck armour dated circa 1505-10 by Christian Schreiner the Younger in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1991.4).

In common with almost all surviving field armours of the period, the arm defences and the cuisses and poleyns (defending the thighs and the knee joints) are not an exact match; armour was damaged and replaced even in its working life. These parts, however, almost certainly belong to the same small series of armours. A quantity of vambraces of this early type are in the historic collection of the Vienna City Historical Museum (formerly the Vienna city arsenal). A conspicuously unusual, perhaps unique feature in the construction of the present vambraces is that they each incorporate two turners (rather than a single one) of rivets moving in corresponding horizontal slots. Because the lower plates of the poleyns have no provision for fitting a pair of greaves (calf defences) the armour was likely originally intended for a mounted wearer and complete.

The helmet here provides a fitting crown to this armour. Dating circa 1510, and decorated with sprays of fluting, its skull typifies the Italian influence found in the early close helmets of Innsbruck and thence disseminated throughout southern Germany.

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A Relief Fragment of a Sculpted Tomb Effigy of an Armoured Knight c. 1510 – 20 Italy, possibly Naples. Marble 32 cm / 12.5 in × 24.5 cm / 9.5 in PROVENANCE Private collection, France

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his fragment comprises the left arm of an effigy of a knight, presumably part of a recumbent figure.

The upper arm is swathed in well-executed drapery forming part of a cloak. Swathed around the arm and carved in relief is a heraldic lion rampant.

A comparison is well made with the marble effigy of Gaston de Foix, Duc de Nemours, attributed to Agostino Busti, called Bambaia (circa 1483–1548), sculpted circa 1515–21, in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan (cast Victoria & Albert Museum, London, no. 1884.666), notwithstanding this sculptor’s more stylised rendition of its armour details and drapery.

Compare also with the kneeling effigy of Riccardo Rota (d. 1392) by Giovanni Marigliano, called Giovanni de Nola (Naples, circa 1488–1558), of about 1540; this effigy is similar to the previous example in its quality, but more precise in the detailed treatment of the armour.

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A Rare Pollaxe late 15th century Possibly England. Steel, latten and wood 179 cm / 70.5 cm PROVENANCE Private collection, United Kingdom

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he pollaxe appeared on the European battlefield in the fourteenth century when men-at-arms began to fight on foot in full plate armour, dispensing with the shield to have two hands free to wield their weapons.

Its use continued until the end of the fifteenth century on the battlefield, but it continued to be used in the foot combat events of the tournament well into the sixteenth century.

This pollaxe is nearly identical to two other examples today in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (vii.1670, vii.1827), the first reputedly excavated in Cheapside, London, the second from the collection of Sir James Mann and thought to have been found in Epping Forest; it retains its original latten bands. Others of the same group are in the Wallace Collection (no.

A926), at Cothele House, Cornwall and in Saffron Walden Museum, Essex (no. 1836.56).

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A Shaffron attributed to Koloman Helmschmid (1471 – 1532) c. 1525 Augsburg. Steel, brass and leather 69 cm / 27 in × 30 cm / 12 in PROVENANCE The Stuyvenant Collection, USA, 1950’s The Kindig collection, USA, until the 1990’s Private collection, USA

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he embossed and etched decoration of this shaffron is without doubt South German in character, but furthermore shows striking similarity to that found on the armour of Koloman Helmschmid: of particular relevance are a close helmet and breastplate one time housed in the collections of the former Berlin Zeughaus. Although the close helmet was sold to collector W. R. Hearst, the breastplate remains in Berlin (today in the Deutsches Historisches Museum), and bears the autograph mark of Koloman Helmschmied.

The etched foliate scrolls in the bands and borders of this shaffron also resemble those on armours made by Helmschmied for Emperor Charles V circa 1525, including the Emperor’s ‘Oakleaf’ and ‘Hunt’ garnitures. Also comparable to the present shaffron and attributed to Helmschmied is an armour for man and horse for Wilhelm Rieter von Boxberg, mainly preserved in the Armeria Reale, Turin (cat. no.

B2), with detached elements of either it or similar armours in the Musée de l’Armée, Paris (cat. no. G 381), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no.14.25.828), the Fürstlich Hohenlohe’sche collection, Schloss Langenburg, Württemberg, and the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds (inv. no III.900). The Rieter von Boxberg armour not only bears etched decoration that closely resembles that of this shaffron, but is embossed in its borders with overlapping scales of the same design as found on the present shaffron.

Simple bands of embossed ornament with panels of flutes in the ‘Maximilian’ fashion similarly feature on a field armour, depicted in the Thun Sketchbooks, which survives in the Historisches Museum der Stadt, Vienna. This armour is believed to have been made for the Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, future Emperor, by Koloman Helmschmied around 1522.

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An Important Augsburg Light Field Armour, attributed to the Habsburg Court Armourer Desiderius Helmschmid (1513-79) and to the etcher Jörg Sorg (1522-1603) Dated 1545 Germany, Augsburg. Steel, gold, copper alloy, leather The gorget and shoulder plates later, and some minor restoration and conservation.

183cm / 72 in × 62cm / 24.5 in on display stand PROVENANCE Private collection, Florence, Italy.

The Charles Hummel collection, Genoa. Included in the subsequent auction sale of the collection in Gênes (Genoa), lot 6, pl. XIV, May 1908 Sold Gallerie Fischer, Lucerne, August 18-20 th 1931 Purchased by Hans von Schulthess (1885-1951), Schloss Au, near Zurich; most probably acquired at the 1931 Gallerie Fischer sale Included in the private sale of the von Schulthess Collection by his heirs, 2008

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his armour is likely the earliest known collaboration between Desiderius Helmschmid, court armourer to the Emperor Charles V, and the etcher Jörg (II) Sorg, acclaimed masters of their respective disciplines working in Augsburg in the 16th century. The armour is etched on the helmet visor with the date 1545, the year of its completion, which pre-dates by three years the previously held start of their collaboration.

Desiderius Helmschmid (1513-79) was a member of a dynastic family of armourers working with distinction in Augsburg and Vienna, in the service of the Habsburg emperors and the nobility of their courts.

His great-grandfather, Jörg the elder, was armourer to the Emperors Friedrichs III and Maximilian I. His grandfather, Lorenz, inherited the latter appointment and his father, Koloman, was in turn armourer to the Emperor Charles V. Katharina (1508-53), the sister of Desiderius, married the etcher Jörg Sorg the elder in 1520, and it was his son of the same name who later worked in association with Desiderius.

LITERATURE Mario Scalini, ‘Autography problems and study of Renaissance armours: additions to the Helmschmid family and Mattäus Frauenpreiss catalogues’, in A farewell to Arms, studies on the history of Arms and Armour, Legermuseum, Delft, 2004, p.66, fig.9

The Sorg family of etchers and painters formed a similar artisanal dynasty, beginning in 1457. Jörg the elder (1481-1565) and his wife Katharina, were the parents of Jörg the younger (1522-1603), who is recorded as a Master etcher in 1548.

The attribution of the present armour to Helmschmid is naturally made on the basis of close similarities between its construction style and that of some constructional characteristics in armour belonging to the list of Helmschmid’s acknowledged works.

Another and equally valid route leading us towards our proposed conclusion has been study of the armours known to have been decorated by Jörg Sorg, and more specifically those for which Sorg was engaged by Helmschmid to etch. In examining Sorg’s decorative treatment of these we have made comparisons with the etching of the present armour, particularly those armours etched with the ‘luntte’ or ‘schuppen und ranken’ pattern which dominates both the present armour and a small number of others acknowledged to be Sorg’s work.

In looking at Sorg’s etching we are assisted by his own ‘Harnisch-Musterbuch’, his personal finely illustrated record of the armours he worked on, detailing in his hand also who they were made for and importantly to us, providing the names of the master armourers who made them. Sorg’s records clearly reveal the measure of his ability, and that in parallel with Desiderius Helmschmid he was also employed by many of the foremost armourers of the day.

A survey of surviving armour constructed and etched in the manner of Helmschmid and Sorg includes several detached elements in institutional collections.

The first of these is a detached couter (elbow defence) in the von Kienbusch Collection of The Philadelphia Museum of Art (cat.no. 190). This belongs to the same armour as the cuff of a right gauntlet and the front and rear lame of a gorget in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.158. 329 and 389).

The original Musterbuch codex is lodged in the Württembergischen Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart, but fortunately the full series of superb watercolour drawings and Sorg’s accompanying notes have been reproduced in a volume published in 1980, together with modern scholarly commentary. Less convenient, given that the present armour was completed in 1545, is that Sorg’s record begins only in 1548, the year in which he is recorded as becoming a Master etcher.

A strong example is a light field armour in The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, Massachuesetts (JWHA 2582). This is compared in the catalogue to the work of Desiderius Helmschmid and Jörg Sorg, and once again conforms quite closely to the embossed and etched decoration of the present armour; the catalogue draws attention also to a matching left cuisse (thigh defence) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The Higgins catalogue entry further invites comparison with the ‘Mühlberg’ armour of Charles V, the exchange close helmet included in its garniture has particular relevance to present armour.

This chronological gap is first bridged by looking at Sorg’s record of an armour made by Hans Luzenberger in 1550, for a member of the Spanish Habsburg court (see MS. fol. 11 v, plate 40). This gives a clear image of the lunette pattern, complete with the small scrollwork designs which individually fill the nodules in the design, and which form part of the lunette pattern on the present armour.

Further comparison is offered by Sorg of a garniture comprising four armour designs, successively for the foot tournament, the tilt at the barrier and two field armours. This elaborate garniture was made

by Helmschmid in 1552, for Ludwig Ungnad von Weissenwolf auf Sunegg, Freiherr zu Sanegck, a senior officer of the Habsburg court, active 154266 (see MS. fol. 22 v 23 and 24, number 80). With the exception of the tilt armour, the three remaining manuscript illustrations display the lunette pattern as being closely related to the overall corresponding design on the present armour, albeit lacking the augmentation of the small scrollwork designs and projecting sprigs which are an additional etched detail of the present armour. Given the minute scale of this last feature its omission may perhaps have been an oversight on the part of the manuscript draughtsman.

In terms of its construction, the present helmet compares particularly closely with the helmet made by Desiderius Helmschmid as a part of the Mühlberg garniture of Charles V. Below the sophisticated double visor, a spring-loaded system of pierced slotted plates shoots rearward to reveal corresponding ventilation slots now open on the left- and right-hand sides of the upper-bevor. Moving on internal spring-catches left and right, the plates are released from their forward closed position by the touch of a projecting button on either side. This ingenious device is extremely rare, and quite possibly exists on no other helmets save the examples of the present armour and the Mühlberg, each a very close constructional, near-twinned match throughout.

The lance-rest on the breastplate of the present armour is again a very rarely seen device of great ingenuity. The arm of the rest is straight in plan and may be pushed back into the breast-plate to form a concealed fit entirely flush with the now streamlined armour surface. The release spring-catch is formed as a rectangular button beneath, neatly flush-fitting.

This device exists on the ‘von Cleve’ half-armour of Charles V, made by Desiderius Helmschmid in 1543; the armour is preserved in the Leibrüstkammer of the Kunsthisorisches Museum, Vienna, the former imperial collection (A 546). The concealed lance-rest was an invention of Koloman Helmschmid and is not known on armour outside of a minority of those produced by Koloman and Desiderius.

On 24th April 1547 the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor led his army to a decisive victory over the Princes of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League near the town of Mühlberg, in the Electorate of Saxony. In his victory Charles V crushed the Protestant opposition and the German lands were his. Such was the significance of this his most prized victory, that the artist Titian was commissioned to paint an iconic equestrian portrait of the emperor wearing the light cavalry armour of embossed, etched and gilt plate which he had worn during the campaign. This armour, now widely recognised through Titian’s painting, belongs to a magnificent field garniture made by Desiderius Helmschmid, completed in 1544 and so dated.

Titian’s portrait of 1548 provides a faithful detailed record of this Helmschmid armour, its embossed and etched decoration provides a clear reflection of the Habsburg court taste of this period (Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no. P-410).

Known today as the ‘Mühlberg’ garniture, the halflength light armour which formed the core of the garniture, together with most of the constituent exchange pieces, are preserved in the Royal Armoury, Madrid (Patrimonio Nacional, Real Armería, A. 165, A. 184 and A. 182). Included within the surviving garniture is its close helmet, a sophisticated construction in all respects, the current relevance of which has been the subject of our brief commentary above. Faithful records of this helmet exist in two further portraits of Charles V, painted in 1599 and 1608 (though repeatedly depicting the armour wrongly as black and gilt), each by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, after Titian (Patrimonio Nacional. El Escorial, Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo).

The Mühlberg close helmet also appears among a limited number of pieces from the garniture which were recorded in a page of the Inventario Illuminado of the Royal Armoury, the pictorial inventory of the arms and armour of Charles V. The attribution of the present armour to Helmschmid is made based on close similarities between its construction style and constructional characteristics in Helmschmid’s acknowledged works. Two elements of the present armour offer the most compelling evidence: these are the close helmet, and the specific construction of its visor and upper-bevor, and the concealed lance-rest mounted on the breastplate.

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An Embossed and Gilt Breastplate c. 1550 – 60 Northern Italy, probably Brescia Steel, copper alloy, gold 51 cm / 20 in × 35.5 cm / 14 in PROVENANCE Possibly included in the removal of arms and armour from the armoury of The Order of the Knights of St. John, Valetta, Malta, during the French occupation of 17981800, or under British governance within the first half of the 19 th century Private collection, France

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his breastplate was certainly made for wear by an officer of an elite body of troops, possibly those of The Order of the Knights of St. John, or the armed retinue of a high-ranking nobleman.

The elegant elongated construction typifies the long-waisted form that was fashionable during the mid-16th century period of armour production in Milan, Brescia and Mantua. Save the gilded relief decoration, the outer surface of this breastplate is entirely blued steel. Decorative embossed scrollwork sweeps downward in a symmetrical pattern from the upper corners to below the neck, and in the Italian style of the period this is balanced by its repetition over the waist plate. The linear scrolls of the embossed ornament are conspicuous in their broad plain surfaces and bold graceful curves, in these respects the embossed work is comparable, for example, with the ornament embossed over the sides of an Italian burgonet skull of the same period, in the Stibbert Museum, Florence. The stylised fleurde-lys motif incorporated in the embossed design likely references the noble whom the troops served.

Placed on the present breastplate as if suspended from the embossed scrolls is an heraldic Cross Moline, serving both to identify the allegiance of the wearer and to act as a Christian talisman. Similarly medieval in their origin were the crosses worn by the early Knights Templar and by the Knights Hospitaller,

or The Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. The Cross Moline is the design from which the better-known Maltese Cross developed and which was subsequently adopted as the badge of the Order of the Knights of St. John.

Within the immediate decades following their move to Malta in 1530, related tomb effigies, frescoes and portraiture of the period reveal that the Knights of St. John were initially identified by their medieval Cross in Ordinary until circa 1550, when the Moline type was introduced, and later observed on the breastplates, red fabric tabards, shields and ceremonial cloaks of the knights.

Two late 16th century examples of munition breastplates bearing the Cross Moline (each considerably less elaborate than this present example), are preserved in the Royal Armouries Collections, Leeds (III.905, III.1327). A further two examples, of the same period, ascribed to possible Brescian origin and each embossed with a pendant Maltese Cross are in the Odescalchi Collection in the Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome (inv.

1105 and 1113). Notable also in this discussion is a portrait in the Palace of Hampton Court, London,

by Tintoretto (1518-94): the subject is a Knight of St. John and suspended from his neck is a Cross Moline, while the cross on his cloak is a Maltese Cross.

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An Etched and Gilt Comb Morion c. 1560 – 70 France or Northern Italy Steel, copper alloy, gold 29 cm / 11.5 in × 35 cm / 13.75 in PROVENANCE Christie’s, London, 29 th October 1986, lot 79 Subsequently acquired for the renaissance art and antiques collection of Pierre Mieg de Boofzheim (d.2010), at château de Bumois, Saint Martin de la Place, Maine et Loire, France (coll. no. A.4.8.).

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he etched designs follow the rich repertoire of ornament originating in the 15th century Italian grottesca (from the classical Roman art discovered in grotto-like ruins) which by the early decades of the 16th century had been disseminated in increasingly expanded and complex forms among the designers of northern Europe, their work alternately referred to as the ‘arabesque’ or the ‘grotesque’. As is evident in the decoration of the present morion, a symmetrical but often meandering framework of spiralling leafy and flowering foliage could involve monsters’ head terminals to the scrollwork and variously suspend ornamental swags, a multitude of fantastic birds, beasts and small winged masks.

In terms of the overall structure and of the small decorative devices used within it, the present etched design can be seen to still follow an Italianate fashion in the decoration of armour. Within France, characteristics more strongly recognisable as French emerge gradually in the etching of armour from about 1570 onwards. The growth in French style owes much to the designs of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (his ‘Petites Grotesques’, comprising sixty engraved plates published in Paris in 1562), and to Étienne Delaune, who published the first of his very many designs for the decoration of metalware in 1561.

Delaune is noted in particular for his earlier virtuoso design for an embossed armour for Henri II of France (r. 1547-59), in which the predominant Italian Mannerist influence from his contact with Italian draughtsmen at the palace of Fontainebleau is clear. A surviving ink and watercolour design drawing attributed to Delaune, for its right pauldron, is ascribed to circa 1555 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc.

54.173). Notably within this drawing, and naturally throughout the armour itself, the core theme and small parts of its detail are still recognisable in the etching of the present morion.

A further example of dominant Italian influence in the decoration of French royal armour is evidenced by a plate of ink and watercolour designs by Filippo Orsoni of Mantua, dated 1554 (Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E. 1764-1920), for an embossed half-armour, it is again for Henri II of France. In this, the vertical designs on Orsoni’s breast- and backplates can be seen to relate to the etched vertical arrangement within the central bands on the morion.

The etched decoration on the present morion has been compared with that on the surviving burgonet helmet and cuirass from an armour made in about 1560 for Henri Sieur de Damville, later Duc de Montmorency: this burgonet and cuirass are preserved in the Musée de l’Armée, Paris (G. 145). See J.P. Reverseau, ‘Les armures des Montmorency au Musée de l’Armée’, pl.

VII, p. 22, in Revue de la société des amis du Musée de l’Armée, Paris, n. 84. 1980.

In his further commentary on the Damville armour Reverseau first highlights the etched designs on the blued and parcel-gilt field armour which was made for the English King Henry VIII in 1544, attributed to either Milan or Brescia, and which is now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.

32.130.7a-l). This armour is recorded in the postmortem inventory (of 1547) of Henry’s possessions as ‘of italion makinge’. Comparing the two armours, Reverseau makes the point of the Henrician example, that “the vocabulary of the etching is identical, but is rendered in a different, more supple manner”.

As an illustration of contemporary North Italian etching, Reversau’s observations concerning the Henrician armour are useful in the discussion of the etching of the present morion.

Reverseau next draws attention to dispersed etched elements which he ascribes to the Damville armour, on the basis of the etching being closely comparable with that on the Damville pieces in Paris; Reverseau lists: a right spaulder and a left greave in the Stibert Museum, Florence (Inv. 3962); a single tasset; left and right gauntlets in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. 20-150-151); and a right tasset and a right cuisse in the MMA also (acc. 38-163-2).

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An Etched and Gilt Comb Morion worn by a member of the Trabantenleibgarde of the Prince- Electors of Saxony c. 1570 – 1600 Germany, Nuremberg. Steel, gold and copper alloy 29.5 cm / 11.5 in × 34 cm / 13.5 in PROVENANCE The Dresden armouries of the Prince-Electors of Saxony Most probably included in the transfer to the Königliche Historisches Museum Dresden in 1831/2 Subsequently included in one of the series of officially directed dispersals from the collection which took place from the mid-19 th century and thereafter A number of former garde morions were also supplied to the Dresden Opera House and ultimately dispersed through dealers from there

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omb morions of this series were worn by both the mounted and foot contingents of the elite guard of the Saxon electors. Contemporary paintings and prints show the guard resplendent in gold and black uniforms and equipped with etched and gilt comb morions to match. Many of these helmets were subsequently polished bright. The sole known dated example is dated 1568 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989. 288), for a member of the guard of the Elector August I (r.1553-86). These morions continued to be used, and perhaps added to within the successive reigns of the Electors Christian I (r.1586-91) and Christian II (following the regency years, r.1601-11).

In keeping with all examples from the series, their etched bands of scrollwork develop to form cartouches suspending the Roman Heroes Mucius Scaevola and Marcus Curtius in Self-sacrifice, respectively over the sides of the skull, each an inspirational subject naturally appropriate to the troops of the guard. In a similar manner, the Saxon ducal arms and those of the Saxon Electoral Office, the Hereditary Archmarshalship of the Holy Roman Empire, are suspended over the sides of the comb.

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A Painted Morion (Zuccotto Aguzzo) from the guard of a Venetian Nobleman c. 1580 – 1600 Brescia, together with Venetian graphic work Steel and oil-based polychrome pigments 23.5 cm / 9.25 in × 29 cm / 11.5 in PROVENANCE Private collection, Italy

The representation of the Winged Lion of St. Mark painted on one side of the helmet skull immediately identifies it as associated with the city state of Venice.

On the opposite side, the cartouche filled with a knotted kerchief device is almost certainly the impresa or personal emblem of a Venetian nobleman. The inscription in the bible held by the Venetian Lion of St. Mark on the helmet reads: ‘Pax Tibi Mar Ce Evan Geli Sta Meu’ (‘Peace unto you Mark my Evangelist’).

The Italian practice of painting armour was a notably Venetian tradition. Most of the surviving examples of this type date from the late 16th century, the armour itself produced in the city of Brescia, at that date subjugated by the Venetian Republic.

Surviving Venetian painted elements of armour naturally exist in the armoury of the Palazzo Ducale, see for example a shield decorated with a Lion of St. Mark roundel stylistically comparable with the corresponding lion on the present helmet (Inv. J 10). A surprisingly extensive Italian armour group, however, closely comparable also, forms part of the armour collection in Konopiště castle, now in the Czech Republic, former seat of the Dukes of Moderna, members of the Princely House of Este.

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An Etched Comb Morion (Morione tondo) c. 1590 – 1600 Northern Italy, almost certainly Brescia Steel, copper alloy 37.5cm / 14.75 in × 36cm / 14 in PROVENANCE Private collection, USA

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he great height to which the narrow comb of this helmet has been drawn-up from the skull, the entire construction beaten from a single flat sheet of steel, is exceptional among even the finest Brescian and Milanese work of the period. The resulting majestic proportions of the helmet as a whole instil a sense of awe in the observer, today and doubtless in the late 16th century also. This quite naturally was the precise intention of both the armourer and the wealthy man for whom the helmet was made, as the crowning achievement of his armour (corsaletto da piede) etched in a matching pattern.

The entire outer surface of this helmet is etched in the characteristic Lombard fashion. While typically based on a structure of linear bands radiating from the base of the skull, in this instance these are markedly distinguished as six architectural beaded pillars joined by ogival arches over the top. The spaces between are filled with various trophies of armour, martial drums, and shields formed as small grotesque masks. The figure of a classical Roman deity stands beneath the central arch and the corresponding spaces are occupied by a pair of monstrous Basilisks within the flanking trophy field.

The expanded space provided by the height of the comb centres on a large quatrefoil cartouche enclosing the figure of Minerva, the classical Roman Goddess of Victory and Wisdom. The central cartouche is in turn supported symmetrically by designs of curvilinear

riband-work, the spaces between again filled with trophies, masks and surmounted by a larger pair of Basilisks, with clearly female human heads. These last motifs, viewed in the context of the symmetrical etched plan as a whole, are perhaps inspired by a series of engraved prints for symmetrical grotesque ornament after Raphael, by the engraver Veneziano, active in Rome and Florence 1516-36 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 24.10.15).

The striking form of this helmet is completed by its narrow brim, swept upwards sharply at both ends to form acute points. The base of the skull is encircled by a row of rivets on decorative rosette washers for attaching a lining-band on the inside.

While etching of comparable graphic quality is found on a number of Milanese and Brescian morions of the late 16th century, for the greater part in institutional collections, very few share the strongly accentuated proportions of the present example, a development this Italian style of morion indicative of the very end of 16th century. Comparison in this respect can be made with two north Italian comb morions in the Wallace Collection, London (A131, A132). In the instance of A132, the use of an architectural element within the etched design on the skull is comparable in its character with the corresponding feature on the present morion. Similarly, the character of the etched ribband-work over the comb of A132 further invites the suggestion of a Brescian workshop in common.

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A French Cuirassier Armour c. 1615 – 1620 France Steel, copper alloy, leather 188 cm / 74 in × 76 cm / 30 in including display stand PROVENANCE Likely François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort (1616-69), the legitimised grandson of Henry IV of France and member of the Royal House of Bourbon, château du Bois-Robin, Aumale The de Belleval family acquired the château in 1638 from the heir to François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort.

According to the de Belleval archives, the transfer of the château included all of its contents, as they had been inherited by the heir, the present armour presumably included.

The noble de Belleval family, Duchy of Aumale, Normandy, since 1638, at the family seat, château du Bois-Robin, Aumale, within the Seine-Maritime départment of Upper Normandy.

The armour was later turned over to the municipality of Aumale in the tumultuous revolutionary year of 1793, by Louis-René, Marquis de Belleval (1744-1807).

It was subsequently retained by the Hôtel de Ville, Aumale, and later worn by the lead outrider in the royal corteges of Louis XVIII, Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchess de Berry and Louis-Philippe, Duke d’Orléans on the occasions of their successive visits to Aumale.

The armour was returned by the Mayor of Aumale in 1867, to René, the then Marquis de Belleval (1837-1900), the grandson of Louis-René.

In 1871 this armour was mistakenly auctioned in de Belleval’s absence and bought by the prominent Paris decorative arts collector and dealer Frédéric Spitzer.

Spitzer offered the armour back to de Belleval, for the cost of his purchase.

Following the death of René de Belleval, this armour together with five others, a cuirass, a sallet and an armet, which formed the core of the family’s pieces, were sold among 271 lots auctioned at Beauvais, on the 21st January 1901, under the catalogue title ‘Marquis de Belleval et de Licques’, the present armour was likely lot 3 , which sold for 4,950 frs.

With Milanese antiques dealer, Subert, active from the 1960’s Private collection, Italy

LITERATURE Catalogue of the de Belleval armour collection, a detailed compilation by the owner, published in La Panoplie du XV e au XVIII e siècle, 8vo., Paris 1873 Historic notes by René de Belleval, French-language handwritten manuscript dated 1898 Francis Henry Cripps-Day, A Record of Armour Sales 18811924, London 1925, p.124

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n addition to its powerful visual presence, this armour enjoys two significant conditions: first that it comes with an accreditable provenance extending back to pre-revolutionary France, and very likely even prior to 1638. This was the year in which the armour is held to have been included in the family acquisition of the château du Bois-Robin, from an heir to François de Vendôme, Duke of Beaufort, the legitimised grandson of Henry IV of France. Second, the armour has survived as a homogenous assembly, a state in which any armour outside of a historic collection is rarely found this century, but particularly an armour of the militarychevalier type. In the first instance, this type would inevitably become mismatched through the usual haphazard care of an arsenal, only to further suffer in the subsequent disorder of the revolution, and then ultimately again in its passage through 20th century collectors.

René, Marquis de Belleval’s (1837-1900) authorship of both unpublished notes relating to this armour from 1898, and his catalogue, published in Paris in 1873 provide the armour’s history, and the handwritten notes remain with the present armour.

The author states that in 1867, as a collector of armour, he owned thirty-three armours. Continuing, de Belleval relates that two years later he sold twentyseven of these to the Emperor Napoleon III (CrippsDay in 1925 gives a contradictory record of seventeen armours sold), himself an avid armour collector. These armours from de Belleval, transferred to the château Impériale de Pierrefonds, are today identifiable within the collection of the Musée de l’Armée, Paris. At this date de Belleval was living in the château du BoisRobin in Aumale, owned by his family since 1638.

Prior to the sale of the greater part of the armour collection, the Mayor of Aumale had visited de Belleval and on that occasion told him of the existence of the present armour, much neglected in the attics of the hôtel de ville. In response to some previous benefaction from de Belleval, the mayor made the offer of the return of the armour to the de Belleval family. The mayor explained that in 1793 it had been turned over to the municipality of Aumale by de Belleval’s grandfather, Louis René.

Louis René de Belleval (1744-1807) was Chevalier and Marquis de Bois Robin et de Longuemont and Viscount de Chépy-Emonville. He also held the appointments of Mestre de Camp de Cavalerie, Lieutenant des Maréchaux de France for Abbeville and Ponthieu, and Lieutenant-Général au gouvernment of the town and Duchy of Aumale.

Little wonder that in the year in which his king was executed the Marquis and Viscount would wish to divest himself of the most conspicuous trappings of the Ancien Régime, of which this armour was an obvious symbol.

In the early decades in which the French monarchy was restored, the present armour was put to renewed use by the civic administration of Aumale, and worn as a historic monarchist emblem by the lead outrider in the royal corteges of Louis XVIII, Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchess de Berry and LouisPhilippe, Duke d’Orléans on the occasions of their successive visits to the town. It was perhaps on the occasion of the visit of the Duchesse de Berry, the mother of Prince Henri, comte de Chambord, that the de Belleval family came to her notice, and that this was later an influence in the appointment of René de Belleval to Prince Henri’s personal staff.

Returning to de Belleval’s historic notes archives, in 1871, while engaged as sous-préfet of the city of Béthune, the present armour and some swords were mistakenly sold in their owner’s absence. The present armour was purchased by the prominent Paris decorative arts collector Frédéric Spitzer. Upon being acquainted with the story, Spitzer offered the armour back to de Belleval, simply for the cost of his purchase.

The de Belleval family history dates back to Aléaume de Belleval (died prior to 1254), Knight and Lord de Belleval. A further significant knightly forebear of the medieval period was Baudouin de Belleval, Chamberlain to the Duke of Burgundy, who was killed on the field of Agincourt in 1415. Thence the line of descent continues to Paul de Belleval, Lord of La Neufville and Hereditary Marshal of Ponthieu, who achieved notoriety by being beheaded in 1621, for having killed a man in an illegal duel.

It is most likely that in 1638 François de Belleval, Marquis de Longuemont (1607-1662) was the recipient of the château du Bois-Robin. The heir to François de Vendôme remains unidentified, as do the circumstances in which he had received the property from the duke. A possibility is that the château, complete with its contents, were given in settlement of a debt. At this date the duke was possibly still campaigning in the service of the crown, in the Thirty Years War, which France had joined in 1635.

René de Belleval today remains well regarded as an accomplished archival custodian of the history of Picardy, genealogist, a prolific published author in these fields and novelist. Some years prior to his service in the War of 1871, for which he was awarded the Croix de Chevalier de Légion d’honneur, de Belleval was appointed to the personal staff of Prince Henri d’Artois, comte de Chambord, and pretender to the French crown. In 1870, endorsed by the comte de Chambord, de Belleval was appointed sous-préfet of Montbéliard within the prestigious governmental administration. Immediately following the war, de Belleval resumed his appointment, successively serving four further areas across a range of départment until 1878.

Constructed to defend the horseman with optimum flexibility to the knee, and with the unhindered vision of its partially closed burgonet helmet, this armour is of the type designed to fulfill the requirements of the cuirassiers, or heavy cavalry, descendants of the heavily armoured knights of the previous two centuries. This branch of the cavalry remained a dominant tactical force on the battlefield throughout the first half of the 17th century.

The sophistication of this construction indicates that this armour was almost certainly made for wear by an officer of the cuirassiers, the large fleur-de-lys forming the terminal of the helmet nasal-bar further confirms that he was an officer in the service of the army of Louis XIII. This last feature compares very

closely with the corresponding element of a French cavalry burgonet of circa 1630, belonging to the gilt cuirassier armour from the former collection of Louis XIII (Inventaire de la Couronne no. 330), formerly said to have been made for the Duke de Sully, Grand Master of Artillery (Musée de l’Armée, G 92- G 603G 604). Another comparable helmet is in the Royal Armouries Collection, Leeds (IV. 524).

Characteristics which date this armour to the period circa 1615-20 include the breastplate shape, the means by which the tassets (thigh defences) are attached to the breastplate and the symmetrical large pauldrons (shoulder defences). The breastplate has a finely tailored form, its relatively flat median develops gracefully towards the base to form a pronounced point. In place of a separate skirt the base of the breastplate is additionally drawn out on each side to form a broad flange arched over the joint with the thighs. The uppermost plate of each tasset is shaped correspondingly to fit neatly over the basal flange of the breastplate, and is attached by a single robust hinged hasp and post, the latter secured by a wingnut.

A further distinctive feature of French armour of the period in question is the scalloped treatment of the inner or secondary edges of the plates. The smallscale shaping of these edges is heightened by punch marks and underscored by linear engraving.

Multiplied over the many close-set narrow lames of the arm defences and the long tassets especially, the scalloping serves to create the illusion of a highly flexible, almost reptilian body.

In respect of these characteristics a very close comparison can be made with the cuirassier armour made for an adolescent, circa 1610-20, from the former collection of Louis XIII (Inventaire de la Couronne No. 326, Musée de l’Armée, Inv. G 196).

Another comparable armour is in The Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts (JWHA 702).

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A Glaive Made for the Guard of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II dated 1564 Germany. Steel and wood 245 cm / 96.5 in PROVENANCE The armouries of the guard of Emperor Maximilian II, the Hofburg, Vienna Private collection, France

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afted weapons such as this glaive developed from the undecorated types used on medieval battlefields. With the heads formed as massive knifelike blades, these weapons and their likely effect leave little to the imagination. The glaive became the traditional arm carried by the personal guard of the ruling Habsburgs, a select body of troops equipped both practically and elegantly, their glaives etched with the personal insignia of the successive sixteenthcentury emperors with whose protection they were charged. The present glaive perfectly illustrates the high level of artistry and technical finesse achieved in the etching of decoration and insignia.

The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II of Austria (1527–76) was the son of Emperor Ferdinand I and the nephew of the Emperor Charles V. The archduke was crowned king of Bohemia in September 1562, king of Germany (king of the Romans) in November 1562 and king of Hungary and Croatia in 1563 before becoming emperor upon his father’s death in July, 1564. Maximilian married his cousin, the Archduchess Maria of Austria, Regent of Spain (1528–1603) and the marriage produced sixteen children. The entwined monogram MM etched on the head of this glaive signifies the names Maximilian and Maria.

On one side, the imperial double-eagle supports an escutcheon bearing the arms of Austria impaled with those of ancient Burgundy, surmounted by the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. The armorial attributes of the Duchy of Burgundy passed to the archducal house of Austria following the marriage of Maria, the daughter of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, to Maximilian I in 1477. The eagle’s talons clutch the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece below. The opposite side shows the armorial badges of the Duchy of Burgundy, namely the ragged cross of St Andrew ensigned with three fire-steels and surmounted by an emperor’s crown. A slender vertical panel along the lower edge carries the motto of Maximilian II:

exception of a small etched detail at the base of the blades. Another glaive identical to the present piece is preserved in the collection of the Princes Odescalchi, Rome (inv. no. 1580). A further example in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, is evidently from the same workshop, but dated 1558 (inv. no. A 730). It bears the insignia of the guard of Ferdinand I, the father of Maximilian II, but the same as the glaives dated 1564, is etched with the arms of Austria and Burgundy, the imperial double-eagle, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor; the reverse is etched with the ragged St Andrew’s cross and the fire steels of the duchy of Burgundy and bears the motto ‘mater Dei memento mei’.

‘DEUS PROVIDEBIT’ or ‘GOD WILL PROVIDE’ The state glaives carried by the guard of Emperor Maximilian II are divided into three series, different in both design and date. A single example preserved in the von Kienbusch Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (see 1963 catalogue, no. 561), also dated 1564, is clearly from the same workshop as the present glaive; they are identical with the

Seven etched state glaives in Vienna bear the motto, the MM monogram and the full arms of Maximilian II, but none are dated 1564, the year of Maximilian’s succession as emperor. Our glaive instead belongs to the identical 1564 series exemplified by both the von Kienbusch example in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the example in the Odescalchi Collection, Rome

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An Important Renaissance Hand-and-a-Half Sword c. 1490 – 1500 Italy. Steel, copper-alloy, silver, gold, ebony and bone 114.3 cm / 45 in × 25.5 cm / 10 in PROVENANCE G. P. Jenkinson Collection Private collection, Germany Private collection, USA

‘As in all other fields of applied art,’ observed the late Dr John Hayward when writing of it some years ago, ‘the high point of hilt design, either as ceremonial or fighting weapon, was reached during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century.’ ‘The excellence of the weapons of this period’, he went on to note, ‘is reflected in their superb proportions and exquisite decoration.’ He felt this sword ‘worthy of the greatness’ of any of the Renaissance princes.Few could deny that this sword, with is elegant lines and rich ornament arranged in counter-changed panels of contrasting gold, silver and gilt copper-alloy, satisfies this criteria of proportion and decoration.

The gilt hilt of the sword comprises a flattened pearshaped pommel, and long horizontally re-curved flat quillons. Each part is cast and finely chased with running vine leaves, scrolling acanthus foliage, fleursde-lis and plaited ornament, and is inlaid at points with similarly decorated gold and silver panels and, in silver, a female bust whose breasts are bitten by serpents. Beneath is a gaping Medusa’s head from which further serpents rise. The later grip is decorated with a chequer pattern of freshwater mother-of-pearl and ebony panels. The double-edged blade, each side with a pronounced medial ridge, tapers to a point; inlaid in copper is a Lombardic M beneath a cross and the blade is etched at the forte with a pattern of imbricated scales.

LITERATURE Dr J.F. Hayward, An Italian Renaissance Sword, in Arms and Armour at the Dorchester Ltd, London, 1982, p. 15-17 Dott. Mario Scalini, Reconsidering some Cerimonial Italian Swords of the Renaissance, Hieb- Und Stichfest: Waffenkunde und Living History, Imhof Verlag, Coburg, 2020, p. 75, illustrated p. 74

The quillons of the sword, like its pommel, are divided into panels of various metals: seven on one face and five on the other. The plaques are either chiselled in relief or engraved intaglio with conventional floral ornament. Each side of the cross is chiselled with the same plaited design as the edge of the pommel, while the tongue or langet, which was intended to cover the mouth of the scabbard, is chiselled with acanthus foliage issuing from a scallop shell and fleur-de-lis at its base. The purpose of this socket was practical: to prevent water from seeping into the scabbard and so rusting the blade, should the sword be exposed to rain or humidity.

Although its superlative quality suggests that the sword was intended primarily for ceremonial use, its design nevertheless accords in all essential respects with that of a practical fighting weapon. Its long handand-a-half grip enable it to be wielded with either one or two hands as needed in combat, and its long, acutely pointed blade, would have been suited to both cutting and thrusting. The pronounced medial ridge that runs down each side of the blade serves to stiffen it, and would have made the sword better able to penetrate any gaps in the full plate armour favoured in Renaissance Italy.

Contemporary representations such the illuminations of Tallhofer’s Fechtbuch of 1459 (Schloss Ambras), and the painting The Coronation of the Virgin (1474, Museo Civico, Pesaro), by Giovanni Bellini, show that blades of this medially ridged pattern were fit to the hand-and-a-half sword type, and interestingly both images represent swords with hilts similar to the present example.

Surviving early Renaissance swords of a quality comparable to the present are few in number and invariably associated with persons of great wealth and rank of the period. Among the most celebrated of these is a sword in the Rüstkammer, Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden (no. hm.a36), identified in early inventories of the Saxon Electoral Armoury as that of Graf Leonhard von Görz (1440–1500).

Though its pommel is of plummet-shaped rather than pear-shaped form, the two swords show a strong resemblance. The Rüstkammer blade is inscribed JESUS MARIA and IN ETERNVM, which has led to the idea that it was given to von Görz at the time of his marriage to the Mantuan princess, Paola Gonzaga, daughter of Luigi III Gonzaga in 1478.

A splendid sword today in the Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer, Vienna (no. a.170) made for Maximilian I, King of Rome and later Holy Roman Emperor (1459– 1519) provides another comparison. Though it has a key-shaped pommel and straight rather than re-

curved quillons, it also bears a striking resemblance to the present sword. Its hilt, also of gilt copper-alloy, bears the inscription IN DIO AMOR which together with the representations of Amor and putti in the decoration of its blade has led to the suggestion that the sword was given to Maximilian at the time of his marriage to Bianca Maria, daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan in 1493/4. This would also suggest the sword was created in Milan, then the greatest of all European arms-producing centres. Affording support for that view is the fact that a sword in the Museo Civico L. Marzoli, Brescia, again bearing similarities, was stated to be struck on its tang with the Sforza mark of a viper. Equally worth examination is the decoration of the so called ‘Martelli Mirror’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (no. 8717–1867), which like the present sword involves gilt copper-alloy inlaid with silver and gold, and is thought to have been produced by the Milanese artist Caradosso Foppa (1452–1527) around 1495–1500.

Through a combination of skill and inventiveness, goldsmiths of Renaissance Italy brought to the decoration of arms a richness and vigour clearly in accord with the spirit of the age. More than in any other period, the nobleman of the Renaissance, with his passion for pageantry and display, looked to contemporary craftsmen to provide him with arms that could compete with or even exceed in splendour those of political rivals.

Hayward, in his assessment, observed that despite affinities with the sword in Dresden, the present sword excelled it in richness. Hayward believed the present sword to be the equal of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I’s wedding sword, and it thus remains tantalising, given the present sword’s opulence, to speculate upon the identity of its powerful original owner. The sword’s elegant ornament and harmonious proportions make it a true masterpiece of the Renaissance: bella e graziosa – beautiful and gracious.

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Two Etched State Halberd carried by the Trabantenleibgarde of Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg dated 1589 and 1611 Southern Germany, probably Augsburg.

Steel, brass, hardwood.

Bearing the device of etcher Hieronymus Riederer 236 cm / 92.9 in and 221 cm / 87 in PROVENANCE Included in the removal of the greater part of the contents of the Salzburg arsenal by Bavarian troops, within the period 1809-15, and installed as booty in the Munich city arsenal Transferred to the Bavarian Army Museum, Munich, circa 1879 Acquired in 1961 by Dr. Hans Schedelmann, Vienna (a renowned authority on antique arms), by exchange

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olf Dietrich von Raitenau (1559 – 1617) was Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1587 to 1612. Born at Hofen Castle in Lochau, in Austria, he was the son of a Habsburg colonel and niece of Pope Pius IV. Perceptive, well-read, and a follower of Niccolò Machiavelli’s ideas, Raitenau was educated in Rome and modeled himself a Renaissance prince. He was a renowned art collector and significant promoter of Baroque architecture north of the Alps: the castle that the archbishop built for his mistress, Salome Alt, with whom he had fifteen children, is known today as Schloss Mirabell, Salzburg.

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A Left-Hand Dagger of the Trabantenleibgarde of the Prince Electors of Saxony late 16th century – early 17th century Germany. Steel, blued iron, iron wire, wood 49cm / 19.1in PROVENANCE The Saxon Electoral Armouries, Dresden Later transferred together with much of the armoury contents to the Historisches Museum, Dresden.

Subsequently included in one of the series of dispersal sales from the historic arms collection in the 19 th and 20 th centuries.

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aggers of this type formed part of the armament of the elite troops of the Trabantenleibgarde of the Saxon Electors. The guard was recruited exclusively from the sons of the Saxon aristocracy and nobility and were referred to as the ‘Edlen Pursche’. The foot contingent of the guard (the Oberguardie am Hofe) was commanded by Hans von Osterhausen in 1590-91 and by Georg Mattig 1591-1600. The foot contingent numbered 74 within the reign of Christian I, falling to 36 under Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm and to 30 under Christian II. Comparable examples of a suite of dagger and rapier are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1981.2 and 28.100.3); these are attributed to circa 1610, that is towards the end of the reign of the Elector Christian II. An exact parallel matching rapier

is preserved in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Inv.-Nr. III 783) and attributed to the late 16th century, with a further tentative attribution to the workshop of the cutler Anton Schuch or Scheuch, whose works for the armoury are recorded in the collection archives. Schuch is first recorded in the Munich city archives in 1582-87, with further records in the Dresden archives in 1590-91 suggesting his move to there.

The present dagger hilt retains very nearly all of its original distinctive bright blue/black finish; the blade is preserved in an equally untouched state. The overall superb level of preservation attests to the authenticity of the Saxon Electoral provenance, a feature common to the majority of arms both formerly and currently retained by the Dresden City Art Collection.

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A Very Rare English Rapier c. 1635 England. Steel, silver, wood, copper 117 cm / 46 in PROVENANCE Private collection, United Kingdom Private collection, USA

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his hilt construction incorporates a range of English design characteristics of the period 1620- 50. It is, however, an unusual variation in that it does not include a knuckle-guard, while in all other respects it conforms within the variety of structures of the hilt type 73 identified by A.V.B. Norman. This type is dated within the 1630’s on the basis of evidence in English portraiture of the period.

A notable developmental feature of the type, which is included on the present hilt, is the strengthening of the cup-guard by the addition of bars shaped as C-scrolls, which are in turn joined to the ring-guards.

The openwork cup-like construction of symmetrically scrolling slender flat bars is typically English and it appears on a range of rapier hilts up to about 1645.

The strong form of the pommel is similarly impressive, lending itself well as a large surface for the silver decoration. This style of silver damascening, referred to as ‘encrusting’ because it stands in low relief, is the subject of considerable debate. The techniques and the majority of the designs post-dating the 1620’s are essentially common to both England and German hilts of the second half of the 17th century.

The detailed repertoire seems to have no national boundary, suggesting in the case of obviously English hilts (such as this present one), that the silver work was done by migrant German craftsmen. The arms collection at Waddesdon Manor, includes a number of comparable silver-encrusted hilts, the present hilt, undeniably English, is preserved in exceptional condition.

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A Bear Spear Head late 16th century Northern European. Steel, gold, silver 41.9 cm / 16.5 in PROVENANCE A Continental Collection, Christie’s London, 15th December 1982, lot 101

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he massive proportions of this spear head distinguish it as a weapon primarily intended for hunting bears, and in this respect it differs from the smaller and much more frequently seen spears for boar and deer. An undecorated spear of very closely comparable size and form is in the Wallace Collection, London (A 935).

The present spear is richly decorated with gold and silver damascened patterns covering the full surfaces of its long hexagonal socket. The damascened

work is of exceptional quality and the designs drawn with equal delicacy. The sliver double-linear strapwork pattern shows German influence but the gold arabesque scrollwork ground upon which it is heightened is unmistakably French work of the period. A strong closely comparable example is provided by the gold work on the hilt, blade and scabbard mounts of a French combined cutlass and pistol of circa 1550-60, formerly in the collection of the Barons von Rothschild and on exhibition in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (A 2249).

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A Saxon Etched State Halberd carried by members of the Electoral Leibtrabanten zu Fuß early 17th century Germany (Saxony). Steel and wood 241 cm / 95 in PROVENANCE The Dresden armouries of the Prince-Electors of Saxony Most probably included in the transfer to the Königliche Historisches Museum Dresden in 1831 and 32 Subsequently included in one of the series of the officially directed dispersals from the collection which took place from the mid- century and thereafter

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uccessive differing series of etched halberds were carried by the resplendent black and gold uniformed elite guards of the Saxon Electors, from the mid-16th century, throughout the 17th century and beyond. In keeping with those other Saxon state halberds made from the 1580’s onward, the present example has etched on the sides of its head, respectively, the arms of the Dukes of Saxony and those of the Hereditary Archmarshalship of the Holy Roman Empire. An identical example is in the Rüstkammer of the Staat Kunstsammlungen in Dresden (Inv. Nr. S 21), ascribed to the guard of the Elector Christian II.

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Two State Partisan carried by Polish Officers of the Guard of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August II, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania c. 1725 – 33 Germany (Saxony) Steel, gold, wood, bullion wire, silk textile 277 cm / 110 in each

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he archives of the Military History Museum in Dresden record an order placed with the sword cutler Johann Clauberg, dated 5th May 1732. This order refers to him supplying six chiselled and gilt partisans (of this elaborate type) for Ober-Officiers of the Saxon Royal Swiss Guard (an elite officer corps formed of Polish noblemen), a body of troops which had been instituted by Friedrich Auguste as King of Poland on 24th May 1725. The same order goes on to specify the supply of a further ten partisans without gilding, for issue to the lower-ranking Unter-Officiers of the guard, together with a further ninety-eight for rank-and-file guardsmen, this latter type of partisan distinguished by having a shorter head similarly ‘in the white’ and being of a pierced simplified design.

The present example conforms exactly to the pattern carried by the elite officers of the guard. Specifically, it is constructed with a wavy double-edged blade projecting from above a crown ensigning the arms of Poland (quarterly, Poland and Lithuania), the arms surmounted by a Latin cross charged upon two swords crossed in saltire and charged upon a sun-insplendour. The midsection of the head retains much of its original gilding on both sides, and the base of the head is cut in the form of a large double-eagle, its wings out-stretched in the manner of a stylised pair of flukes. The socket retains a large silk tassel bound

PROVENANCE The Princes von und zu Liechtenstein, presumably a Saxon or Polish royal presentation made to the ruling prince, almost certainly within the historical period.

Included in the subsequent anonymous dispersal of fine arms from the Liechtenstein princely armouries, American Art Association Inc., American Art Galleries, New York, November 19 & 20, 1926, lot 288.

with a bullion wire trellis, almost certainly the original: the tassel is identical to the example on the partisan of the same which is in The Philadelphia Museum of Art (referenced below).

It has suggested that the heraldic double-eagles, which are obviously prominent in the design of this unique partisan type, may derive from the marriage of Friedrich Auguste to Maria Josepha of Austria, the emperor’s daughter, in 1719 (ref: Helmut Nickel, former Curator of the arms collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

Following the death of Friedrich August in 1733, partisans of this type continued to be carried by the royal guard of his son and successor, the Elector Friedrich August II, who reigned as Auguste III, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, 1733-63.

The guard was disbanded in 1815.

Historically, a further twelve partisans of this type were formerly in the once magnificent armoury of the Wartburg, seat of Wilhelm Heinrich, Duke of SaxeEisenach, r.1729-41 (W.-G.-I. Nr. 4529-4540). Other examples are in the Warsaw City Museum and in the Czartoriski Collection and the Wavel Collection, Cracow.

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A Historic Pair of Bronze Cannon Cast by the Spanish Gun founder Mathias Solano, Dated 1747, and Given by King George III of England to Major General John Graves Simcoe in 1798 dated 1747 Spain, The Royal Gun foundry, Seville. Bronze.

FERDINAND. VI DG HISPAN. ET IND. REX Ferdinand VI by the grace of God King of Spain and the Indies.

Additional scroll-work is held by an encircling band of foliage and expanded flower heads, the base ring signed by the founder SOLANO FECIT. HISPALI. ANNO 1747 Solano made this, at Seville in the year 1747 Within the mouldings and bands of ornamental foliage so beautifully cast in low relief, the motto: VIOLATI FULMINA REGIS ‘THUNDERBOLTS OF AN OUTRAGED KING’ Each cannon bears a name: EL MARTE Mars, the Roman god of war EL SENECA Seneca the Younger 104 cm / 41 in × 28.5 cm / 11 in 186 cm / 73 in including stand

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athias Solano, the founder who cast this fine pair of cannon, belonged to a family of Spanish gun founders who were working over two or possibly three generations. He was director of the royal gun foundry at Seville from about 1703 to 1755. In earlier years he had also cast guns in Valencia and Pamplona.

The present pair of guns is recorded in Gunfounding & Gunfounders, by A. N. Kennard, together with a record of other examples cast by Mathias in Seville, namely three in the Museo del Ejercito, Madrid and another in the Musee de la Marine, Paris.

Correspondence of February and March 1798 between Major General Simcoe and Prince Frederick,

PROVENANCE Removed in 1798 from among the captured rebel ordnance in San Domingo Shipped from Port au Prince to Jamaica, thence in October 1799 dispatched to London, with onward shipping to Plymouth, England Received at the Devon port of Kingsbridge in December 1803 Installed at Walford Lodge, General Simcoe’s family seat in Honiton, Devon Passed down through the Simcoe family, the cannon remaining at Wolford Lodge Purchased in 1923 by Herbert K. Reeves, Esq. of Porlock, Somerset Presented by Reeves in June 1940 to Leatherhead Urban District Council (now the Mole Valley District Council) and for many years displayed outside the council chambers in Leatherhead Sold Christie’s, 2 November 2005, lot 129 LITERATURE Mary Beacock Fryer & Christopher Dracott, John Graves Simcoe 1752-1806: A Biography Toronto and Oxford 1998 A.N.Kennard, Gunfounding & Gunfounders, London 1986

Duke of York, on behalf of his father King George III, brought about the royal presentation of this pair of very finely cast historic bronze cannon. Simcoe was undeniably deserving.

John Graves Simcoe (1752–1806) achieved fame and a deservedly lauded reputation as the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada: a lake, a town and a county in Ontario are all named after him. Eton and Merton College, Oxford, were followed in 1771 by entry into the 35th Regiment of Foot as ensign. On the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War Simcoe served in New England as adjutant of his regiment. In 1775 he obtained a captaincy in the 40th Regiment of Foot and

was severely wounded at the battle of Brandywine River. His bravery and unusual abilities in the field brought about Simcoe’s promotion in October 1777 to the local rank of major commanding the irregular green-clad Queen’s Rangers. Simcoe trained these troops in field operations unconventional within the British army of the period, going on to conduct skirmishing and scouting operations with tactical stealth, frequently infiltrating behind enemy lines in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Simcoe was captured near Hillsborough, New Jersey, in 1779, barely with his life, and was released under exchange at the end of that year. He was also among the troops surrendered by Cornwallis at Gloucester Point in 1781. Simcoe was invalided home in early December 1781 and appointed colonel.

In 1791, upon the division of the two Canadas, Simcoe was appointed the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada under Lord Dorchester, the governorin-chief. He initially selected Newark (now Niagara) as his capital, in 1793 moving the seat of government to Toronto. Under his tenure the province flourished in almost all respects, other than in its relations with the United States, this bias being attributed to Simcoe’s war experiences. Simcoe was appointed major general in October 1794, and shortly thereafter dispatched to San Domingo as commandant of the British garrison established there. He returned to Britain in July 1797, was promoted lieutenant general the next year and appointed colonel of the 22nd Regiment of Foot, with command of the defence of the West Country against the threat of Napoleonic invasion.

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A Nuremberg Wheellock Sporting Carbine c. 1570 – 80 Southern Germany, Nuremberg Steel, fruitwood and staghorn Struck with the maker’s mark of the Nuremberg lock maker Georg (Jörg) Seidler, together with the Nuremberg Town mark. Georg Seidler is recorded in the Nuremberg archives as a maker of gun locks, active from about 1550.

74 cm / 29 in PROVENANCE The Eugen Nielson Collection, sold Christie’s London, 31 March 1993, lot 274

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he compact length of this carbine together with the long belt hook fitted opposite the lock indicate that this piece was intended for use by a sportsman shooting from the saddle. This is a particularly pleasing weapon in all respects, and one which may rightly be said to be of courtly quality. The very unusual attention given to the decoration of the barrel stands out among German firearms of the period, while the elegance of the stock with its delicate and balanced horn inlay provides an intriguing display of motifs from the repertoire of the leading German Renaissance ornamentalists (called Die Kleinmeister), Hans Sebald Beham, Heinrich Aldegrever and Daniel Hopfer.

While elaborate decorative castings exist among the very finest German 16th century bronze cannon barrels, the similar treatment of steel barrels for corresponding hand firearms is extremely rare. Unlike bronze, the relief decoration of a steel gun barrel is the product of cutting, filing and finishing by hand rather than being more easily cast prior to its hand finishing; the decorative cutting of steel was a lengthy discipline practiced by only a limited number of artisans and was consequently a more costly process. In the present instance the eye is drawn immediately to the barrel. This takes the form of conventional octagonal stages at the breech and muzzle, with decorative girdles at their inner ends. Enclosed between these,

the entire median stage is finely cut with a diagonal close-set pattern of bold convex bands alternating with ribbon-like fluted bands, and these each in turn separated by narrow flutes divided by a threadlike rib. The lock is fitted with a safety-catch and domed wheel-cover which are characteristic of the period 1570-80. The lockplate itself is struck with the maker’s mark of the Nuremberg lock maker Georg (Jörg) Seidler, together with the Nuremberg Town mark. Georg Seidler is recorded in the Nuremberg archives as a maker of gun locks, active from about 1550. Examples of Nuremberg wheellock firearms with the locks bearing Seidler’s highly distinctive mark (in a shield, GS, a hammer between and spectacles impaled beneath) are preserved in the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, and in the former Imperial Collection in the arms collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The latter example (WS. A577), a double-barrelled pistol with a double lock, would certainly have belonged to the superb historic core collection.

Perhaps reinforced by the example of this provenance, the suggestion has been made that the coat-of-arms inlaid on the stock of the present carbine are the arms of the Imperial Habsburgs, the Bidenschild. The absence of the imperial crown is said to indicate that this carbine may have been commissioned simply as a gift from the Imperial Household. In heraldry the

individual ownership of a coat-of arms is to a great extent determined by the colours used within the design. When arms are displayed as a monochrome engraving (as in the present instance) their colours, since the 17th century, are differentiated by simple hatched patterns as part of the graphic design. The first known publication of these designated hatchings dates from 1600 and we can only presume that these were established from pre-existing 16th century conventions. The Habsburg arms are a white/silver ground charged with a red horizontal band, and in the present instance the band is not represented as red.

The possibility of artistic license or error is, however, a presence in early representations of heraldry and so for this reason the attribution of the present arms can only remain uncertain.

The stock is constructed from fruitwood, its rich tone made the more attractive against the finely engraved white horn mounts and horn inlay, of which the latter is both well-balanced but not sparing in application.

As mentioned above, the engraved designs for the mounts and inlay are closely inspired by the engraved small designs for ornament which were published

by German artists from the 1530’s onward. These uniquely graphic compact designs, peppered with the motifs and allegories of the period, were widely influential across the full range of German decorative arts and domestic wares, and equally embraced by gun-stock makers throughout the remainder of the century. The present inlaid plan is provided by a series of engraved plaques arranged within slender horn segmental lines. Among these plaques are elongated monsters coiled about the barrel pins set along the length of the fore-end, varieties of grotesque masks both emerging from and issuant from stylised arrangements of foliage and clusters of fruit, and a delicate frame of fleur-de-lys filled with a cornucopia. Again, as referred to above, a shield of arms supported by monsters and grotesques in inlaid opposite the lock. In a more pastoral departure, small-scale hunting vignettes involving a hunter, his hounds, waterfowl and a fox are inset about the base of the butt.

The butt-plate is similarly a departure from the predominant style, engraved with the renaissance figure of Prudentia, the female personification of Prudence as one of the Four Cardinal Virtues of the classical world. As an attribute of her iconography, the falcon is an unusual addition to the figure in 16th century art. To appreciate the inclusion of both the falcon and the conventionally found serpent, it is necessary to first dismiss the accepted modern meaning of the word ‘prudence’ as the exercise of caution and restraint. As one of the foremost Virtues providing the rules for a civilised life, Prudence was defined as being the exercise of foresight and wisdom when applied to a course of action, or more precisely being the ability to judge between the virtuous course and the malevolent one. The falcon is an obvious emblem of foresight and the serpent the now less obvious emblem of wisdom. Personifications of the Virtues with their specific attributes were a popular motif among engravers of the period, their inclusion in the decoration of luxurious objects being seen jointly as an appropriate talisman and moral guide.

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An Exceptional Wheel-Lock Sporting Carbine c. 1590 – 1600 Southern Germany, Augsburg Steel, gold, brass, fruitwood, horn 90.3cm / 35.5 in PROVENANCE Private collection, Switzerland

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his carbine is preserved in superb and untouched condition; as such it is perhaps unused. The second barrel is fired by a second mechanism carried on a single lockplate, the two mechanisms being engaged by a single trigger: this both reduced the weight and maintained the ease of handling.

Unlike the best-quality single-trigger game shotguns of modern times, however, the historical owner of this carbine would have needed to cock each of the two mechanisms in succession. Nonetheless, the advantage of a second shot, not only pre-loaded in the second barrel but with the second mechanism already primed and spanned (a laborious and as

yet unavoidable process in wheel-lock firearms), this would be considered a clever and significant improvement at the end of the 16th century.

The fulsome extent to which the barrels in this instance have been decorated with etched designs and bands of fire-gilding confirms the status of this carbine as a luxury weapon, but one as much intended for defence as for the hunt. The etched designs are typically from the South German design repertoire and the high quality of the overall finish underscores the origin of the carbine, which is indicated by the control mark of the city of Augsburg.

Of particular interest is the trace of foliate designs which very unusually have been lightly applied simply by a blued finish. Similarly, the rare placing of the safety-catch away from the lockplate, or from the stock opposite it, has very logically put the device in convenient reach of the user.

The stock is again very much in the South German fashion, the engraved white staghorn inlay contrasting beautifully with the warm colour of the fruitwood. The engraved details themselves are little changed over the previous thirty years, retaining the same German Late Renaissance subjects and characteristics that are found on furniture, games boards and luxurious inlaid boxes of the period.

The shape of the butt reveals the contemporary influence of Italian fashion in South German gunmaking. Specifically and most famously, the same slender high-combed form exists in the fruitwood stocks of the single-barrelled wheel-lock carbines which were made for the bodyguard troops of Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. Made with undecorated barrels and locks in several series over the period 1590-1600, the von Raitenau carbines variously bear the marks of Augsburg, Suhl and of several different South German and Salzburg gunmakers, but they have in common the form of stock shared by the present carbine, similarly enriched with a related style of horn inlay. For comparison an example of the von Raitenau type is in the former imperial arms collection in Vienna (A808).

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A Silesian Wheellock Birding Rifle (Tschinke) c. 1650 – 80 Poland or The Czech Republic, probably Teschen (today Cieszynka/Těšin) Steel, copper alloy, gold, fruitwood, abalone shell (mother-of-pearl), horn and stained horn 123 cm / 48.5 in PROVENANCE Private collection, France

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hether for its specialist sporting application or the likely alure of the exoticism of its profusely inlaid slender stock, the idiosyncratic Tschinke enjoyed widespread popularity within the middle decades of the 17th century, the highpoint of their aesthetic development. Examples closely related to the present rifle are today preserved in the foremost national museum collections, having been dispersed from great gunrooms such as those of John Sobieski, King of Poland, the Princes Radziwill and the former

Polish, Bohemian and Moravian duchies. Still others remain in the prestigious surviving historic collections of firearms scattered throughout the former Saxon and Habsburg lands and beyond, these include the former Imperial collection in Vienna, the armoury of the Princes von und zu Liechtenstein, the Swedish Royal Collections, and the Baden Duchies, the latter now combined in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe.

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A Pair of Dresden Long Flintlock Holster Pistols in the Paris Royal Court taste, by Le Bearnois c. 1700 Germany (Saxony), Dresden Steel, root walnut wood and horn 52 cm / 20.5 in each PROVENANCE Private collection, Europe

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n his essay dealing with the dominant influence of Paris over luxurious firearms design in the latter decades of the 17th century, the salient firearms scholar Torsten Lenk noted that at the close of the 17th century Dresden ranked with Amsterdam and Düsseldorf as a centre for the production of firearms in an entirely French style. To this we should add the imperial court of Vienna, to be followed early the next century by Berlin, Munich, Prague, Copenhagen and Madrid.

How this shift away from the Germanic traditions in firearms ornament came about is naturally rooted in the wider influence of Paris, by then the epi-centre of northern development across the decorative arts, fuelled by the abounding patronage of Louis XIV and the expanding pan-European influence of the royal court. Paris firearms design, specifically, emerged at the Dresden Electoral Court with the Dukes of Saxony commissioning the very latest French flintlock firearms.

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A Fine Pair of English Silver Mounted Flintlock Holster Pistols

by Henry Hadley, London c. 1761 England, London. Wood, steel, silver and gold 38 cm / 14.25 in PROVENANCE Private collection, USA

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enry Hadley moved to the West End in 1745, and from 1755 – 1771 he occupied premises at Suffolk Street in the Strand. His outstanding skills earned him patronage at the highest levels: in the collection of HM The Queen at Windsor Castle, are two pairs of pistols by him bearing respectively the crests of the Prince of Wales and a Royal Duke, while in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, is another pair bearing the arms of the Fourth Duke of Marlborough.

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A Pair of Presentation Quality Silver-mounted Flintlock Holster Pistols by Wilson London Silver Hallmarks for 1782 London. Steel, silver, gold, walnut wood 42 cm / 16.5 in each PROVENANCE Removed from Warwick Castle, Warwickshire (inv. nos.

F007/8).

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hese pistols may have come to Warwick Castle as a gift to the 2nd Earl, George Greville, 2nd Earl Brooke (1746-1816). The silver maker’s mark is probably that of Michael Barnett. Michael Barnett, at No. 36 Cock Lane, Smithfield, entered his first mark on 29th June 1781.

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A Cased Pair of Percussion Pistols Presented to the Duke of Valencia, dated 1847, by Eusebio Zuloaga Spain, Madrid. Steel, gold, ebony, ormolu, gilt-brass, white metal, copper, bone, watered silk, velvet Case: 11cm / 4.3 in × 64cm / 25.2 in × 45cm / 17.7 in PROVENANCE Duke of Valencia, Spain Private collection, Argentina Private collection, United Kingdom EXHIBITED The Great Exhibition of Works of Industry, London 1851 L’Exposition Universelle de Paris, 1855 The Royal Armoury, Madrid, circa 1856 until prior to 1880

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he recipient of this astonishing cased set of pistols was unquestionably as unique as these pistols themselves: on his deathbed he was asked to forgive his enemies, to which he replied “I have none, I have had them all shot”.

Ramón María de Narváez y Campos (1800-1868) was the son of José María de Narváez, 1st Count of Cañada Alta. He entered the army at an early age and first saw active service in Catalonia in 1822.

His talents as an officer and his firm Conservative support of the monarchy in the face of would-be Liberal reform rewarded the younger Narváez with a succession of promotions. He became a committed supporter of the child Queen Isabella II and her

LITERATURE Sir Matthew Digby-Wyatt, The Industrial Arts Of The Nineteenth Century, A Series Of Illustrations Of The Choicest Specimens Produced By Every Nation At The Great Exhibition Of Works Of Industry, 1851. Published by Day And Son, London 1853 Mathew Digby Wyatt, The Industrial Arts of the XIX Century.

A series of illustrations of the choicest specimens produced by every nation, at the Great Exhibition of Works of Industry, 1851, published in two volumes 1851-53. One of the present pair of pistols forms part of a coloured lithograph, pl. 11, vol. 1 James D. Lavin, ‘The Zuloaga Armoures’, Journal of the Arms & Armour Society, Vol. XII, No.2 ( September 1986), pp.8487, 91, pl. XXII James D. Lavin, ‘The Zuloagas of Eibar’, an essay in the exhibition catalogue (ed. JD Lavin), The Art and Tradition of the Zuloagas – Spanish Damascene from the Khalili Collection, The Khalili Family Trust in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1997, pp.41- 66.

A coloured lithograph from the Great Exhibition of 1851 reproduced as fig. 4, P.47 An original design for one pistol of this pair is in the Museo Zuloaga, Zumaia, Gipukkoa

regent Queen Maria Christina upon their accession in 1833, and achieved great popularity with his victory over General Miguel Gómez Damas of the Carlist opposition at the battle of Majacceite in 1836 (defeating the forces of Carlos, brother of the dead King Ferdinand VII and pretender to the Spanish throne). Narváez cleared La Mancha of brigands in 1838, employing a policy of hard repression, and for his achievement he was appointed Captain General of Old Castile and commander-in-chief of the army reserves. On the conclusion of the Carlist War Maria Christina had been compelled to relinquish her regency to Baldomero Espartero, Count of Luchana. Narváez, for his role in the putting down of the Carlist insurrection was forced to take refuge

in France, where with Maria Christina and General O’Donnell they planned the successful overthrowing of Espartero in 1843. By their pronunnciamiento the Cortez (parliament) was obliged also to accept the legitimacy of the 13-years old Isabella as queen.

On May 3rd 1844 General Narváez was appointed Spanish Prime Minister, the first of six terms he was to hold that office, the highest in Spain below the monarch. On July 1st he was also appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and on November 18th 1845 he was promoted to field marshal and appointed 1st Duke of Valencia.

This cased set of pistols and their accessories, the latter being every part a masterpiece as the weapons themselves, was presented principally by two senior figures of the Spanish royalist establishment: these being firstly Captain General (equivalent to field marshal) Don Rafael Aristegui y Velez, The Count Mirasol and Governor of Puerto Rico (1843-47), and secondly General Don Celestino Ruiz de la Bastida. The plaque bearing the Spanish presentation inscription is set

into the interior of the case lid and is surmounted by a chiselled and damascened ducal crown.

The inscription concludes with the date ‘1846’; this is almost certainly the date the set was commissioned and also the date commemorating the year in which the remarkable state service of Ramón Narváez concluded (temporarily) upon his leaving office. In the presentation the named donors were joined by the officers of those army regiments whose loyalty to the monarchy was absolute.

The powder-flask is dated ‘1847’, however, this being indicative of the length of time required for even a full team of artisans in the Zuolaga workshop to complete such an elaborate commission. In fact it is most likely that the set was not entirely completed until just prior to its presentation in about 1850, just in time for the set to be included in The Great Exhibition in London during the following year.

The densely-packed chiselled designs which predominate the present pistols and their accessories

draw strongly on a revival of interest in the Mannerist fashion for grotesque scroll and strapwork. This imaginative school of ornamentation had originally been disseminated throughout Europe from the designers employed at the French Royal Court at Fontainebleau in the 16th century, and thence was taken up by the decorators of armour and luxury wares under the wider patronage of the many ruling courts of Europe. The armoured figures included in the designs of both the present pistols and their accessories are additionally influenced by Eusebio Zuloaga’s own observations; these were gained from the period circa 1846-49, in which he was working at the Royal Armoury in Madrid, restoring the magnificent armour there.

Working very much in his own signature style, Eusabio Zuloaga has clearly used the delicate and exact framework of 16th century design and then worked, or rather crammed into every possible tiny space a complexity of figures, grotesques, monsters and wit from his free imagination. All of these fantastic arrangements are thrown into a greater dimension by the accomplishment of his iron chiselling in relief, the consequential heightening being augmented by the contrasting brilliance of the gold- damascened ground.

To greater astound and impress, the entire complement of accessories has been chiselled and damascened to match, but with each piece designed as a unique item and the interior surfaces of the patchbox and the bullet casting-ladle finely engraved with appropriate motifs and finished in bright blue.

The case is without doubt among the most elaborate ever constructed in Europe for a pair of pistols.

Veneered in ebony and banded in ormolu, the exterior of the lid and the sides are decorated in the polychrome marquetry known as boulle work, named after its exponent André Charles Boulle, who in the 17th and 18th centuries was engaged in the luxurious decoration of French furniture. The corners of the lid are inlaid with four differing marquetry trophies-ofarms, as befits a soldier statesman, and the centre is inlaid with the quartered arms, crown and chivalric orders of Ramón Maria Narváez y Campos as Duke of Valencia, supported within a further trophy of state flags, cannon and weapons.

The case interior is contour-fitted, lined in red silk moiré and complete with its protective interior cushion of padded moiré. The case exterior is protected by its original travelling case of commensurate shape, of green morocco leather lined in baize. The case is signed by its maker, a specialist in marquetry ‘Martin Rexel Eranista en Madrid, Cmarquerie lo Graeò’.

We can clearly see from the pair of pistols now discussed that a particular similarity exists between the decoration on these pistols and a wonderful parade burgonet made for Philip II of Spain by the Augsburg armourer Desiderius Colman Helmschmid and decorated by the goldsmith Jörg Sigman (Real Armeria, Inv. No.239-42): see Lavin 1997, p. 24, fig 16. Here we can see a strikingly similar combination of formal ornament inhabited by small human, animal, grotesque and monstrous figures, some in conflict, some fantastic and mythical, some obviously comic.

We can also find the repeated use of the cornucopia as a motif.

A chiselled and damascened sabre signed by Eusebio Zuloaga and dated 1849 exhibits very closely comparable design characteristics; this sabre is preserved in The Philadelphia Museum of Art (1977.167.659a).

Of further Spanish cultural significance is the highly distinctive shape of the pommels both on the stocks of the pistols discussed and in the construction of the hilt of the sabre: for these both Zuloaga has taken inspiration from the lobated form of pommel used on the ancient espada falcata, the shortsword adopted from the Greeks by the Iberians of Andalucia in the 4th century BC. Noteworthy also is evidence of these swords being the first weapons in Iberia damascened with precious metals, therefore providing the distant root of the artform ultimately perfected by the Zuloaga workshops.

Eusebio Zuloaga was born in Madrid in 1808, into a family from the northern Basque province of Gipuzkoa. The family had a tradition as metalworkers and armourers dating back at least to the late 16th century, but it is not until the 19th century that the name Zuloaga achieved a nationally recognised reputation amongst gunmakers. In 1815 Eusabio’s father, Blas, was appointed Lieutenant to the Chief Armourer of the Royal Armoury, succeeding the latter in 1833 and in turn appointing Eusebio as his Lieutenant.

Eusebio had earlier completed his apprenticeship as a gunmaker and in 1830 had successfully petitioned the King Ferdinand VII for funds to allow him to make a three-year trip to study gunmaking techniques abroad.

Eusebio spent a year in Paris, working at the atelier of the renowned Jean Lepage, who had been

gunmaker to the Emperor Napoleon and later to Louis XVIII. Doubtless his friendship with Jean’s son and successor as royal gunmaker, Jean André Prosper, was further valuable in Eusebio’s professional development. After a year in Paris Eusebio studied for a further twelve months the manufacturing techniques used in the arms factories in SaintEtienne, then returned and spent his third year in Paris before returning to Madrid in 1833.

In May 1850 he applied for leave from Madrid to go to Eibar to work on ‘various objects that he wishes to present as products of his art in the forthcoming exhibition in this court (i.e. Madrid), and in the exhibition to be held in London during the coming year’. He left for Eibar around the middle of the year, probably accompanied by his eldest son Plácido, whom had been sent to Paris to learn the art of gunmaking.

Eusebio’s return to Madrid coincided with the death of the king and saw too the Carlist conflict following great disagreement regarding the proposed accession of Ferdinand’s infant daughter, Isabel. Eusebio and his father’s appointments, respectively as Lieutenant and Chief Armourer to the Royal Armoury, came from the Queen Mother, Maria Cristina, who was ruling as regent, and father and son maintained the armoury together until 1838, when, through a reorganisation of the management of the armoury, Eusebio’s post was abolished and he found himself unemployed.

He applied, once again successfully, for funds to permit his return to Paris ‘to devote himself to metallurgic art’, while also planning to visit arms factories in Belgium. He then returned to Madrid in the spring of 1840 and it was at about this time that Eusebio established his own factory in Madrid.

An important insight into the status and reputation which Eusebio Zuloaga’s work had achieved by the late 1840’s is given in comments made by Martínez del Romero in his catalogue of the Royal Armoury, published in 1849, the year the Armoury was reopened after its major refurbishment. Romero said that Zuloaga had established: ‘a factory for the art of gunmaking in the town of Eibar, that has achieved the production of very fine products. Sr. Don Eusebio Zuloaga possesses today a shop for the construction of barrels, and the secrets necessary to display on his arms that luxury of ornament exhibited by those of the sixteenth century. The products of his factory, together with those of his workshops in this court, combine to produce objects of rarity and worth, and at the same time these establishments serve as a training ground for disciples of very high calibre. The aforesaid gentleman is the last gunmaker of fame and renown’ (Marchesi and Romero, ‘Catalogo de la Real Armeria’, 1849, pt.ii, p.109, and Lavin, 1997, p.44).

While Eusebio and his father enjoyed the roles and titles which linked them to the Royal Armoury it may be that Eusebio felt the title of Armourer did not adequately reflect his abilities as an apparently increasingly well-established and successful gunmaker. In 1844 therefore, he submitted a plea to be recognised as ‘Honorary Gunmaker to Her Majesty’ (ie. the 14-yearold Queen Isabel), and this was granted in that same year.

The years after his success at the Great Exhibition of 1851 saw further change and development for Eusebio. His father, while still serving as Chief Armourer, died in 1856 and Eusebio was not only promoted to take over his father’s position but was also appointed Huntsman to the Royal Family.

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A Cut Steel and Gold Presentation Snuff Box, Made for Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté (1758 – 1805) c. 1800 – 1802 England, Birmingham Steel, gold The Gold Interior with the Inscription: ‘This Box was made by a True Born Briton, John May of Birmingham and Presented to the King of the Ocean Horatio Visit. Nelson June 10th 1802. Whose Daring Deeds of Arms Rais’d England’s Flag Triumphant O’er the World’ 2 cm / ¾ in × 7.5 cm/ 3 in

O

n the 2nd April 1801 at 1.30pm just off the coast of Denmark, Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and said to his Flag Captain Foley ‘I really do not see the signal’. By ignoring the signal for recall and retreat the battle was swung decisively to the British advantage and the Battle of Copenhagen was forever remembered as a great victory.

Later in 1801 Napoleon began massing forces to invade Britain and Nelson was placed in charge of defending the English Channel. He spent the summer reconnoitring the French coast, but apart from a failed attack on Boulogne in August he saw little action. On 22nd October 1801 the Peace of Amiens was signed between the British and the French, and Nelson in very poor health, retired to Britain to stay with Sir William and Lady Hamilton. The three of them embarked on a tour of England and Wales visiting Birmingham, Warwick, Gloucester, Swansea and Monmouth amongst other towns and villages.

Nelson found himself received as a hero and was the centre of celebrations and events held in his honour.

In 1802 he bought Merton Place, a country estate in

PROVENANCE Presumed presented to Admiral Nelson in 1802, while he was in England with the Hamiltons Private collection, England Acquired prior to 1910 by the family of the present owner, and thence by descent Acquired prior to 1910 by the family of the present owner, and thence by descent

Surrey where he lived briefly with the Hamiltons until Sir William’s death in April 1803. The following month war broke out again and Nelson prepared to return to sea.

This fine box was made and presented by John May, most probably a patriotic member of the Birmingham business community. The base of the box is highly polished to create a mirror.

30

A Royal Gold and Enamel Presentation Sword by John Ray and James Montague, made for His Highness Prince William Frederick, 2nd Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Edinburgh (1776-1834) London hallmarked 1801 – 1802 England, London Gold, enamel, steel, wood and fish skin (shagreen) 103 cm / 40.5 in PROVENANCE Prince William Frederick succeeded his father as Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Edinburgh on the 25th of August 1805, and it is likely that this sword was prepared for him to use following his succession to those titles. A family collection label attached to the sword records that it was bequeathed by the Duchess of Gloucester to her godson Lord William Seymour.

It was sold with other pieces formerly belonging to HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, KG, KT, KP (19001974), at Christie’s London auction of the 26th and 27th of January, 2006, Lot 197.

T

he title Duke of Gloucester ceased with the death of HH Prince William Henry in 1834 and lay dormant until 1928, when it was conferred upon Prince Henry, third son and fourth child of King George V. Thus a title first created around 1380 for Thomas Woodstock, son of King Edward III, was revived after a period of almost two hundred years.

This is a fine example of the very high quality, elegant swords made for dress and presentation purposes by the London firm of John Ray and James Montague from the first years of the 19th century. Ray and Montague took over the business of their eminent predecessor, James Morisset, and maintained the position he had established as one of the leading goldsmiths and jewellers making of swords of this

LITERATURE Claude Blair: Three Presentation Swords in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a group of English Enamels, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1972, p.49, item 31. (Note that in this work the sword in question is incorrectly described as that of William Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, and the London hallmarks are given as those of the year 1805-6) AVB Norman, The Rapier and Small-Sword 1460-1820, Arms & Armour Press, London, 1980. p.344-5 Leslie Southwick:Three Royal Swords Emerge from the Past, Jewellery Studies, Vol.12, (2012), p.22-39; New facts about James Morisset and a revised list of his known works, with others by his successors John Ray and James Montague, Journal of the Arms & Armour Society, Vol.XV, No.6 (September 1997), p.313-350; London silver-hilted swords, their makers, suppliers and allied traders, with directory, Royal Armouries, Leeds, 2001

type. They also continued to make small-swords like this example, in a style which by the 1790s Morisset had established as almost a standard form for such exceptional pieces (note 1).

Prince William Frederick, 2nd Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Edinburgh, was born in Rome on the 15th of January 1776, the youngest child and only son of Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, and Maria Walpole, Dowager Countess of Waldegrave, an illegitimate granddaughter of Sir Robert Walpole. This unequal parentage barred Prince William from formal membership of the Hanoverian line so, as a great-grandson of King George II, he was considered a British Prince and had the title His Highness, not His Royal Highness.

His father died on the 25th of August 1805, and William Frederick inherited the titles of Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught. It is most likely that this sword by Ray and Montague was made for him at that time, since it bears the arms to which he had become entitled.

The Duke of Gloucester studied at Cambridge and from 1811 until his death was Chancellor of the university. In July 1816 he married Princess Mary, his cousin and the fourth daughter of King George III, at which time the Prince Regent granted him, by Order of Council, the title of His Royal Highness. The duke and duchess lived at Bagshot Park, Surrey, but, both being above 40 years of age at the time of their marriage, produced no children. Although the duke was not politically very active he was an advocate of the abolition of slavery and also lent his support to Caroline of Brunswick and the Duke of Sussex against George IV. The hilt and the top locket are struck with the mark of the makers John Ray and James Montague and London Assay Marks including the 18-carat mark and the date letter, an upper-case letter ‘F’, for the year 1801-2. The rear face of the top locket is engraved with the name of the retailers of this sword, the prominent royal sword cutlers; GOLDNEY’S / St James’s Street / LONDON). The hilt is of solid 18-carat gold.

31

A Rare Medieval Tibetan Quiver 15th – 16th century Tibet. Leather, lacquer, brass 81 cm / 32 in PROVENANCE Private collection, Hong Kong Private collection, Holland

T

his is one of a small group of surviving medieval quivers from Tibet of which other examples can be seen in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (no. xxvib.141) and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (no.

2001.37, and no. 2014.71.)

32

A Leg Defence, or Dizçek late 15th century Turkman, ak-Koyonlu Steel and silver 61 cm / 24 in PROVENANCE Struck with the mark of the Imperial Ottoman arsenal, in the former church of Hagia Eirene, Istanbul Probably dispersed from the arsenal by order of Sultan Abdül Mecid I, 1839–40 Private collection, USA

T

his type of thigh and knee defence was used by heavy cavalrymen of the Ottoman, Timurid and ak-Koyonlu armies and the knee plate of this dizçek is stamped with the Kayi tamga mark of the Hagia Eirene arsenal, Constantinople. This former church in the walls of the Topkapi Palace housed the Imperial Ottoman armoury before its dispersal in the 19th century and conversion to a military museum.

A comparable defence is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (no. 36.25.55), which also has the Istanbul arsenal mark on a lead seal on its mail and a similar inscription.

33

A Very Fine and Elegant Dagger, or Khanjar 17th – 18th century Indian, Mughal. Jade, gold, ruby and steel 42.5 cm / 16.75 in PROVENANCE Frederick H. North Works of Art, June 1972 Private collection, United Kingdom

T

he code for fashionable dress of the nobility in northern India under the Mughals and their successor states included the wearing of highly decorated daggers which reflected the wearer’s social standing and prestige. Animal headed daggers became popular early in the 17th century and were reserved for nobles of the highest rank. A close study of Mughal miniature paintings reveals the restriction of these animal-headed daggers to a small number of princes and senior dignitaries (Welch 1985, 257– 8). The most popular medium for the hilts of these daggers was jade, either nephrite or, later, jadeite, imported from Central Asia, reflecting the Timurid heritage of the Mughal court.

Compare a near identical hilt in the Royal Collection, RCIN11450, presented to King Edward VII as Prince of Wales during his tour to India in 1875–6

by Mahbub ‘Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad via his minister SalarJung I in Bombay, and exhibited in Splendours of the Subcontinent at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace in 2018.

FINE ANTIQUE ARMS, ARMOUR & RELATED OBJECTS 38–39 Duke Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6DF +44 (0)20 7839 5666 gallery@peterfiner.com www.peterfiner.com