Half-Shaffron (horse's head armor)
Culture
Northern German
Date1550–1575
Mediumetched steel, with modern leather
Dimensions38.1 × 28.6 × 16.5 cm (15 × 11 1/4 × 6 1/2 in.), 2 lb, 8 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.79.2
DescriptionBelongs with WAM 2014.79.1, 2014.79.3. Etched escutcheon plate is designed to hold a plume. Foliate volute etched decoration around eyes and ears, leaf-shaped etched decoration at base of nose. Engrailed embossing on all turned edges (ears, eyes).The underlying shape of the plate is good, but it has been bent in places to accommodate later use, and there is evidence of alteration around the base, suggesting that this may originally have been a full shaffron, subsequently cut to a half-shaffron, possibly for 18th-century ceremonial use. The ears may be associated and decorated to match.
See digital file for details of etching.
Label TextAs in many of the cultures of Eurasia and Africa, the military elite of medieval Europe were mounted: the word for “knight” in almost every European language actually means “horseman.” A well trained warhorse was expensive, and a knight’s steed often wore at least a head protector, and sometimes additional armor for the neck and body.ProvenanceHollingworth Magniac collection (England; to 1892) Joseph Duveen (NYC and London) Oliver H.P. Belmont (NYC and Newport, RI) Clarence H. Mackay (Roslyn, LI). Purchased by Museum on November 9, 1940 from Jacques Seligmann & Co. Inc. (NYC), agents for estate of Clarence H. Mackay. Armor was numbered #A-52/302 in the Mackay collection. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
On View
Not on view
Michel Witz the Younger
1530s
