Left Greave, 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
Dimensions43 × 8 × 13 cm (16 15/16 × 3 1/8 × 5 1/8 in.), 1 lb, 6 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsAll major components are internally marked with HAM accession number in black on a white fiield. Both vambraces have the inner end of the couter mainlame and that above marked with a single v-shaped nick. The left vambrace (only) has the inner ends of the laminations at the bend of the arm marked with small v-shaped nicks- 1 in each of the seven lowest lames and 5 in each of the 12th through 17th.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.74.13
DescriptionThese are of two plates, twice hinged on the outer face, shaped closely to the leg, and curving down over the outer side of the ankle where they are embossed for the ankle-bone. The greaves do not totally encase the leg, but rather are three-quarter closed, secured by a transverse set of modern leathers and brass buckles at the top and bottom of the open inner face. The frontplate is embossed with a sharp medial ridge, near the top of which is a turning-pin to the inside of the ridge itself. Near the outer side opposite this is a domed brass stud. The openings at the foot and the top edge of the rearplate are inwardly turned over wire cores and deeply roped. The opening at the foot is bordered by brass-capped, iron rivets. Both plates are medially decorated in the primary band rendered in etching, not embossed. The decoration of the left frontplate is almost certainly original and not refreshed. The outer side edge of the mainplate, border of the opening for the foot, and the upper border of the rearplate are decorated with the candelabrum motif on a gilded, stippled ground, framed by bright fillets and a blackened etched line on one edge. The greaves are for use in the Freirennen; cf. Wallace Collection A.43-43; see Norman, Supplement.
No sabatons.
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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