Warhammer for a Horseman

Culture Southern German , probably Augsburg

Dateabout 1525–1530

Mediumetched and blackened steel

Dimensions56.6 × 10.5 cm (22 5/16 × 4 1/8 in.), 2 lb, 12 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.469

DescriptionThe hammer is entirely of steel, with a short, one-piece head slightly downturned at either end. The hammer face is squared & beveled on striking surface. The side edges of the hammer head body and of the beak are deeply concave and encircled by a close-set pair of incised lines. The beak which opposes the hammer head is similarly formed in its body and terminates in a stiff, short, 4-sided spike. The faces of this are longitudinally divided by central, engraved lines. The oblong block from which the hammer head and beak project is incised on its outer surface with diagonal lines between a double sets of vertical lines. On the inner surface, the block is fitted with inserted belt-clip of twisted rope form, flattened at its end & cross-hatched at block. The faces of the hammer head are decorated with etched arabesque strap work on a plain, blackened ground. The inner side of the block and the outer and inner faces of the beak are similarly etched with repeated, reversing strapwork which is recurved and voluted, connected to one another by a short bar between a pair of dots, the whole within thin blackened panels. The beak faces above and below are etched with a running vine motif with pod-like swellings and five-petalled floral motives, on a stippled, blackened ground.

The center of the head is vertically pierced to receive a long internal strut which passes through it, to be secured to the decorative steel cap of truncated conical form. This is deeply cut on its sides into six petal-like rounded faces, themselves formed with sloping facets above. These facets are etched with delicate arabesque on a plain, black ground. The cap is surmounted by the upper terminal of the strut, finished as a hexagonal, slightly rounded, low finial.

The haft is hollow, of one piece of steel which is closed up and copper braised along one edge of the outer face. The haft is of flattened hexagonal form to the grip which is 4-sided and widens slightly towards the base, terminating in a separate molded bi-level domed cap of hexagonal section. The sides slope toward the cushion-shaped base from the petalled edge above. A central, rounded rivet secures the cap to the base of the haft. The grip has rounded edges, and is pierced transversely for the lost wrist-cord. The grip is set off from the basal cap by a triple set of etched lines, and defined above by a separate, twisted rope reinforcing band below which is a single etched line and angled, addorsed voluted crescents at the join of which is an ellipse.

The outer and inner faces of the haft above the grip are etched with loose, running-vine motif noted above, within thin blackened framing-lines. Above and below this panel is an oblong, arabesque-etched smaller panel. The side below the beak is etched with the recurved strapwork as found on the outer and inner beak faces, with oblong panels etched above and below. The side below the hammer-head has a slightly differing motif in which the recessed strapwork designs are face to face and repeated, connected at the basal ends within each pair and the pairs connected to one another at the top terminals. The intervening spaces are filled with voluted tendrils.

Surfaces are etched with strapwork and foliate motifs reminiscent of those found on Augsburg armor of the period.
Label TextThis weapon is designed for armored combat on horseback. The hammerhead can damage armor, the beak can pierce steel plates, and the hole at the base was for a lace to keep it from being lost in the midst of battle. The floral decoration is typical of the armor-producing center of Augsburg in southern Germany.ProvenanceStadtrath Richard Zschille (Grossenhain, Saxony, probably to 1897) Edward Hubbard Litchfield; Edward Hubert Litchfield (the former's son; estate sold 5 December 1951 at Parke-Bernet, this piece being part of lot 109) Parke-Bernet Galleries (NYC) Herb Glass (Bullville, NY) Purchased by the Armory from Glass on 22 April 1952. This was evidently an informal, private purchase, as there are apparenly no records in the archives, other than the accessions book entry. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

On View

Not on view

Collections