Left Pauldron of Field Armor, from a Garniture, probably made for Ludwig Ungnad von Weissenwolf auf Sunegg
Artist
Desiderius Helmschmid
(German, Augsburg, 1513–1579)
Artistdecorated by
Jörg T. Sorg the Younger
(Southern Germany, Augsburg, about 1525 – 1603)
Dateabout 1552
Mediumsteel with embossed, etched, blackened and gilded decoration, with modern brass, velvet, leather and steel
Dimensions27 × 25 × 17 cm (10 5/8 × 9 13/16 × 6 11/16 in.), 2 lb, 12 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsAll major components are internally marked with HAM accession number in black on a white field.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.74.5
DescriptionPAULDRONS: The right defense is a completely modern, mirror-image copy of the left, which is described. This is formed of 5 plates, the main of which is cut out at the front and overlaps a single curved lame above, and overlapped below by a set of three upwardlly overlapping curved lames of more-or-less equal depth over the arm. There is a full-length medial ridge down the arm. The mainlame and that above extend only slightly over the front of the chest. At the rear the mainlame is well rounded for the shoulder-blade, with a broad triangular flange at the armpit. All lames work on internal leathers and sliding-rivets at the rear. At the top of the shoulder over the arm the uppermost lame is fitted with a pair of domed brass grommets for arming-points. A similar set is found on the anterior half of the mainlame for the attachment of a now-lost besague. The terminal lame has a transverse buckle-and-strap encircling the arm. The perimeter of the pauldron is bordered by an internal, restored lining-band retained by brass-capped, iron rivets and thin washers within. All edges are inwardly turned over a core and deeply roped.
The perimeter and medial ridge are decorated with the primary motif. The blackened candelabrum bands appear only in a shallow recessed tapered band at the outer edge of the triangular flange at the rear of the armpit. On the shoulder-blade, extending out from the base of the medial band, the mainplate is embossed with a voluted feather motif that is re-etched and gilded, this motif framed by the flame-like border noted on the poleyns.
Here too, there are difficulties in the alignment of decorative motives on the lames over the arm, suggesting that one of more lames have been lost. In addition, the terminal lame does not fit well with the vambrace (see below), having approximately 1/2" gap all around.
There is a small triangular hole in the rear of the third plate down, probably the result of a flaw in the metal.
This pauldron would have been used in the Feldkueriss (p. 55, fig. 6 of Gamber).
ProvenancePer Stephen V. Grancsay in the Armory's 1961 catalogue, this armor was inherited from the Sachsen-Altenburg line by the Schwarzburg-Sondershauser in or after 1869. Ex collection, the Duke of Altenburg (Schloss Altenburg, Thuringia, Germany); Prince Schwarzburg-Sondershausen; Clarence H. Mackay (Harbor Hill, Roslyn, L.I., NY). Purchased by Museum on April 1, 1940 from Jacques Seligmann & Co. (NYC), agents for the estate of Clarence H. Mackay, their no. A-20-110. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
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