ARMS, AND ART

by Claude Blair

Serious interest in the study and collecting of early arms and armour began, as might be expected, with the 19th century Gothic Revival. It was stimulated by the number of examples brought into the art-market by the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars, and also by the publication of Dr. (later Sir) Samuel Rush Mey rick’s seminal Critical Inquiiy into Anticnt Armour in 1824, and most of the great 19th and early 20th century art collectors, like Sir Richard Wallace and Henry Walters, acquired at least a few fine pieces. A change came after World War I, partly because of the growth of an anti-militarism which, though justified in itself, classified all arms - the gold-hiltcd 18th century small sword and the Vickers machine-gun alike - as implements of war. More significant, however, was the revulsion against Romanticism and all things Gothic, combined with the growing snobbery that divided the arts into ‘Fine’ and ‘Applied’, with the former always automatically given precedence. The absurd situation thus arose in which Henry Moore’s lumpen ‘Helmet’ would be regarded as an important work of art, and a fine 15th-century Italian helmet of the shape from which it was derived would not, though the latter might be infinitely 1. Gold parade helmet of Meskalcm-dug in the form ofa wig c. 2600 B.C. superior as a piece of abstract sculpture! Few of the great art From the royal tombs at Ur, now in Iraq. Xatioual Museum, Baghdad. collectors now acquired arms and armour — William and a famous gold dagger which, in the words of its discoverer, Randolph Hearst being a notable exception - and the subject, Leonard Woolley, is ‘a wonderful weapon whose blade... (is) though continuing, as always, to be supported by a small band ... of gold, its hilt of lapis lazuli decorated with gold studs, and of specialist enthusiasts, was ignored - even derided - by the its sheath of gold beautifully worked with an openwork art historians. Their attitude is encapsulated in a minute sent in pattern derived from plaited grass’. It is not known if these the early 1950s to the Department of Metalwork at the pieces, which were in the Baghdad Museum, survived the Victoria & Albert Museum by the then Director, Sir Leigh Gulf War. Ashton, in which he pronounced that ‘anus and armour are There is some archaeological evidence that similar weapons not art’, and would in future only be acquired for reference continued to be made in the same general area, for example a purposes! Though more enlightened attitudes have, in group of swords - including some of the earliest known with general, returned since then, there are still many who would iron blades — maces and axe-heads dating from c. 2500 BC, endorse this view of the subject. The purpose of the present found at Dorak in Anatolia. It is not, however, until the essay is try to show them that they are mistaken. second millenium BC that we encounter anything that is Though some of the polished flint knives and spear-heads clearly of the same quality in a group of daggers from the produced in the Late Stone Ages of both Egypt and Northern shaft-graves at Mycenae in Greece (c. 1600 BC). with ivory Europe have considerable claims to being regarded as notable hilts and bronze blades damascened in gold, silver and niello works of abstract art, it was not until the use of metals had been with hunting-scenes. Comparable to these, and dating from established for several millennia that the existence of anything approximately the same period is a series of splendid Egyptian that can be called an armourer's art can be identified. The axes and daggers, outstanding amongst which is the axe (c. earliest known true armour is represented by a group of 1580-1550 BC) of King Ahmose with a gold-plated bronze bronze helmets, dating from c. 2600 BC, found in the blade decorated with figures and hieroglyphics and inlaid with Sumerian Royal Tombs at Ur (now in Iraq). They are of no cornelians, turquoises and lapis-lazuli, and the two gold- artistic merit, but from the same source comes an astonishingly mounted daggers from the tomb of Tut'ankhamun (c. 1340 sophisticated and beautiful parade-helmet embossed out of BC). Also, if Homer’s description of the shield of Achilles in gold in the form of a wig (fig. 1), and clearly the product of a the llliad is to be taken literally bronze armour magnificently long tradition of fine-quality metalworking. Interestingly, it embossed with scenes w\as being made in Greece during the was almost duplicated some 4000 years later by an iron same period. If so, it still awaits discovery', and the contem­ parade-helmet, now in the Royal Armoury, Madrid, made for porary Mycenacn bronze armour that has been discovered is the Emperor Charles V by Filippo Negroli of Milan. The either plain, or ornamented only very modestly. Royal Graves at Ur also produced a number of other splendid It is more than probable that amis and armour which could parade-pieces, including a silver spear-head of great elegance. be classified as works of art were much more widely used in

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3. Roman bronze cavalry- sports helmet. 1 st or 2nd Century. From Ribchcstcr, Lancashire. British Museum. bronze and iron helmets of comparable artistic quality to the Greeks, very occasionally found with gold or silver decora­ tion, sometimes inlaid with coral or enamelled. Also Celtic is one of the most beautiful examples of armour of any period in existence, the first century BC enamelled bronze shield (fig. 2) from the River Thames at Battersea, now in the British Museum, which has been described as ‘the noblest creation of Late Celtic art’. As might be expected from a highly-organized race of conquerors, much of the arms and armour used by the 2. Celtic bronze shield decorated with enamel and corals, 1 st Century. Romans was severely practical. Nevertheless, Emperors and B.C. From the Thames at Battersea, British Museum. senior officers, and, for dress occasions, certain special units, the early periods with which we have been dealing than the wore equipment as elaborate as anything that had gone before, archaeological record indicates. Only in the first millcnium as did also some gladiators. The basis of most of the parade BC, however, do surviving examples start to be relatively armour was the so-called ‘muscled’ , apparently taken common in most of the major cultures of the Old World, over from the Etruscans, and comprising a breast and becoming more so, both in actuality and in illustrations, as it backplatc, probably nearly always of bronze, modelled to progresses. The bronze weapons of Luristan and China are represent the nude male torso. Many statues of the Emperors well known, as is the bronze armour of ancient Greece, show them wearing muscled-cuirasscs of great elaboration, especially the helmets with their subtly modelled forms, now sculptured with figures and other decoration in very high often beautifully patinated. After the introduction of iron, the relief, but no actual examples of this splendour are known to two metals were used alongside each other for a long period, survive. Some idea of what their appearance must have been and amongst the contents of the 4th century Macedonian can, however, be obtained from two specialized types of royal tomb at Vergina thought to be that of Alexander the contemporary armour, most of which is of bronze decorated Great’s father, Philip (359-336 BC), is an iron cuirass with in relief, with varying degrees of skill, in the manner just superlative gold mounts, as well as an iron helmet and a pair of described, and of which a fair amount does survive. These are gilt bronze . Also from this tomb are the silver-gilt the armour worn by some gladiators and that made for the cover of a Scythian bow and quiver case (gorytus) embossed equestrian displays of the auxiliary cavalry, so-called ‘cavalry and chased with figure-scenes, a gold-hilted sword in an ivory sports’ armour. The former is best known from a widely- scabbard, and a unique circular bronze shield with gold and reproduced helmet with a wide brim and a grilled face- ivory decoration, described by its discoverer, Professor defence found at Pompeii (destroyed AD 63), which, though Manolis Andronikos, as an ‘unparalleled work of art’. it is encircled by frieze of well-modelled figures, is quite The Celts, both north and south of the Alps, produced remarkably ugly! The cavalry sports armour, on the other

16 hand, includes pieces of very fine quality, amongst them, not surprisingly, horse armour. Quite outstanding are some of the helmets, which are of a distinctive form with the face-defences modelled as naturalistic human masks, several obviously portraits. A notable example in the British Museum (fig. 3), dating from the first or second century AI), was discovered in the 18th century at Ribchester, Lancashire, when a boy was found kicking it along the banks of the River Ribble! Another of the same period, and perhaps the finest of all these helmets, in the Damascus Museum, is made of iron, with silver-gilt mounts of superb quality and a silvered face-mask, clearly a portrait, forged from a single piece of metal with consummate skill. The Northern barbarians who eventually overran the Western Empire used, in the main, only mail (so-called ‘chain’ mail) body-armour, often worn either with a conical helmet or a version of a late-Roman cavalry-helmet, the latter often equipped with a face-mask, though not a naturalistic one. Many of the examples that have been excavated, for instance in Sweden, are richly decorated, but the finest of all of them - sadly, in fragmentary condition - is the one from the famous early 7th century royal Anglo-Saxon ship-burial found at Sutton Moo, Suffolk, in 1939 (fig. 4), and still the greatest archaeological find ever made in Britain. An object of immense sculptural power, it is made of iron with gilt bronze mounts, and is entirely covered with tinned bronze plaques stamped with complex interlaced designs and scenes showing warriors. It formed part of a magnificent outfit, based on an Imperial Roman one, which must originally have incorpor­ ated a cuirass made of perishable material, probably leather, of which only the shoulder-clasps and belt-buckles and mounts survive. These arc amazing objects, of solid gold, decorated with designs, either cast and chased or executed in cloisonne garnets and millcfiori glass with immense skill and sophistica­ tion. Accompanying the outfit are a sword and the mounts of a 4. Reconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon helmet found in the ship burial at purse and of a shield, all similarly decorated. Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, early 7th Century. British Museum. With the spread of Christianity the practice of burying a dead person’s possessions with them ceased in the West, with a With the emergence then of fully-developed heraldry, trained resultant enormous decline in the survival rate of costly secular heraldic artists also appeared, and magnificent examples of objects, including amis and armour. No other examples of their work, mostly modelled in relief as well as painted, are remotely comparable aesthetic quality to the Sutton Hoo found on a series of shields surviving from late in the same pieces are known to survive from the early Christian Middle century to the 15th century: examples are the shields of the Ages, though a few swords begin to approach it, for example, Teutonic Knights in the museum at Marburg, and, probably the incomplete 9th century Anglo-Saxon sword from the best known of all, the shield of the Black Prince (d. 1377) Abingdon in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the partly in Canterbury Cathedral. l Oth century French Coronation Sword ‘of Charlemagne’ in Heraldry was not, of course, confined to the shield, and the Louvre, and the 10th century Hungarian ‘Sabre of from shortly after its introduction it is found in contemporary Charlemagne’ amongst the German Imperial Regalia, Vien­ illustrations depicted on the gown that was now worn over na. The literary sources, however, like the 11th or 12th the armour, and a little later also on the headpiece, either century French Soni* of Roland, contain many references to painted directly on to it or surmounting it in the form of a decorated armour, particularly helmets, but no examples are crest. It was also used, normally in enamel, to decorate spurs, known to survive from before the 14th century. During the harness- and belt-mounts, and the hilts and fittings of swords. intervening period the armour used, apart from the helmet, A superb early example is provided by the ‘Zerenionien- was almost exclusively of mail, which does not lend itself schwert’ in the German Imperial Regalia at Vienna, made, readily to ornamentation. Very little armour of any kind probably in Palermo, for the Coronation of the Emperor survives from this period, and the evidence available about it, Frederick II in 1220. This has gold mounts, partly enamelled which is scarce before the late 11 th century and even and partly filigree work, those on the scabbard, which is also thereafter mainly pictorial at first, gives the perhaps misleading sown with seed-pearls, involving the Emperor’s anus. impression that decoration was confined to rather none- As already mentioned, a textile over-garment came into dcscript devices painted on the shield until the 12th century. fashion in the 12th century. It of course concealed the armour

17 c. 1380 in the Trapp family armoury in the Castle ofChurburg in the S. Tyrol. The French royal inventories and goldsmiths’ accounts of the period, however, contain numerous refer­ ences to the mounting of in enamelled silver-gilt and even gold, presumably mainly for use in the tournament. A royal helmet in Chartres Cathedral, probably that of Charles V (1364-80), had such mounts, including a gold open crown, until the Revolution, when they were destroyed, while a child’s armour in the same place, clearly made for his son, Charles VI (1380-1422), retains a tiny fragment of a silver-gilt border cast and chased with Gothic foliage. This last was the only representative of its kind known to survive until recently, when excavations under the Louvre produced the remains of a helmet, made for Charles VI, of a sumptuousness and quality that, despite the archive evidence, are an astonishing revelation about decorated armour in the period round about 1400. It was badly damaged when found, but it has been possible to produce a facsimile reconstruction (fig. 5) which shows that it was mounted in gilt copper-alloy, including an outer casing chased with foliage involving winged stags, the King’s badge, and an open crown inscribed with his motto and set with plaques enamelled with the French royal arms: holes 5. Reconstructed late Nth Century helmet of King Charles VI of France, indicate where other mounts, including separate winged stags, with enamel and gilt-copper mounts. Excavated under the Louvre. were formerly attached. Musi c tin Louvre, Paris. Only one other contemporary piece of royal goldsmiths’ for the body and, though its form changed, continued to do so work connected with amis and armour is known to survive. until the early 15th century - a period of some four hundred This is the splendid sword made for King Henry IV of England years from which very few actual specimens survive - which (1399-1413) before his accession to the throne, and now used means that the illustrations on which we have to rely for so as a state sword by the City of Dublin, to which he probably much of our information are less informative than they might gave it in 1403 when he granted the mayors the right to have a have been had it not existed. Plate defences for the limbs are sword carried before them. The hilt-mounts and one depicted occasionally from the middle of the 13th century, but surviving original sheath-mount are of silver, formerly gilt, do not seem to have started to be adopted generally until the and engraved, amongst other things, with Henry’s motto, his early 14th century. This seems likewise to have been the case ostrich-feather badge, and his flower, the forget-me-not. with for the body, although it is mentioned in There can be little doubt that they were made by the royal literary sources as early as the late 12th century, and can be goldsmith Herman van Cleve, probably in 1396, and are thus identified occasionally in illustrations of the second half of the the only surviving specimens of English goldsmiths’ work that 13th century. It was constructed at first of plates held together can be attributed to a known artist. by a canvas cover or, more rarely, lining, to which they were In the early 15th century, first in Italy, the textiles that had secured by rivets. This defence - known simply as the ‘plates’ hitherto concealed most of the body-armour began to be or ‘pair ofplates’ - was often faced with some richer textile and discarded and the polished ‘white armour’, with a solid the rivet-heads gilded. The evolution of the tournament from breastplate and backplate, that is probably what most people a mock battle that stopped just short of the real thing-and that think of when armour is mentioned came into general use. not always — into a courtly sport led in the 14th century to the From the same period also, actual specimens of armour production of special tournament armour in which the become increasingly available for study. For obvious practical coverings of the plates, and even more so the gowns worn reasons - and contrary to modern popular belief and despite over them, were often made of rich textiles, sumptuously Olivier’s Henry V- it was not excessively heavy, knights did decorated with the wearer’s devices in embroidery or not have to be lifted into their saddles with cranes, and they applique. The wardrobe accounts of the princes of the period, were perfectly able to rise unaided if they were unhorsed. As for example Edward III of England (1327-77), are full of has been pointed out by one distinguished American references to garments of this kind of quite extraordinary authority, the late S. V. Grancsay, they expected their armour elaboration: of all of them only one dilapidated and faded to fit as perfectly as their clothes, so the armourer’s problem example now remains, thejupon of the Black Prince (d. 1377) ‘was to reconcile rigid steel with the flexible and inexorably in Canterbury Cathedral. active human body with all its joints and, presumably, grace’. The plate armour that began to be generally adopted again L3y the 15th century the armourers of Milan, the leading in the 14th century provided a better vehicle for decoration centre of medieval production, had solved this problem, and than mail, and from the second quarter of the century it is evolved a product which was not only superbly efficient and depicted in illustrations of armour, mainly in the form of elegant, but was also comparatively light and flexible, so that applied borders. These ^verc probably normally of engraved its wearer could move with case. This last result was partly brass, perhaps gilt, as on a unique composite Italian armour of achieved by designing it with surfaces that had their greatest

18 before, decoration of this last kind has survived only on swords, of which a number of superb princely examples exist, notably in the Vienna collections and the Treasury at Miinchcn. Two other decorative techniques, however, that were to become significant after 1500, made their first appearance on arms and armour in the last quarter of the century, etching and embossing in relief, of which the latter is first recorded on a German horse-armour at Vienna. From an early date armour had a secondary role as a symbol of power. This is obvious in its purely military context: an insignificant little man can be turned into a fearsome warrior by an impressive armour, a concept not unknown to the makers of such films as Star Wars1. What is perhaps less appreciated is that the same thing applied to insignificant little kings, princes, and noblemen, and that if their armour was super magnificent it also demonstrated publicly how wealthy as well as powerful they were. This idea was developed fully in the 16th century with the appearance, for the first time since the Roman period, of armours that were quite impractical for battle or the tournament, and were designed for parade only. In fact, some of these are basically perfectly practical armours, but the delicate nature of their decoration shows that they were never intended for serious use. One example is the armour, in the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London, made for King Henry VIII in c. 1514, almost certainly by Milanese armourers working for him in England: together with its horse-armour, it is completely covered with engraved designs, including scenes from the lives of St. Barbara and St. George, by Paul van Vrelant of Brussels, all silvered and originally entirely gilt. The King wearing this on a bright day must have looked like a god! Other parade-armours, while retaining the shape of conventional armours, are elaborately embossed with designs, usually Classical, gilded and damas­ (». Milanese armour of a member of the Matsch family, c. 1440-45. cened, which, because they are in relief would serve to hold an formerly in Schloss Churburg, S. Tyrol. City .Museum €~Art Culler)', attacking weapon rather than turn it away (figs. 7 and 8). In elusion'. addition to these, however, there are many helmets and shields, and one or two armours, made in imitation of ancient strength at the most vulnerable points, and were also shaped - Roman ones, and similarly embossed with designs in relief in effect, streamlined - to guide blows away rather than with quite astonishing technical virtuosity. merely resist them. The Milanese style - familiar from the Lack of space prevents any discussion of the various schools works of such artists as Paolo Uccelo - was smooth and of embossed armour, but mention must be made of its most rounded: in Germany, where the great armourers of such famous makers. Filippo and Francesco Negroli of Milan, who places as Augsburg were quick to take up the new Italian worked in the second quarter of the century, and were able to construction, the national High Gothic style led to elongated, model iron with the hammer almost like clay. They were angular forms incorporating timings and cuspings. With both, patronized by. amongst others, the Emperor Charles V, and an effective functional shape, as is so often the case, is also an superb examples of their skill are in the Royal Armoury, aesthetically satisfying one, and the finest examples of the last Madrid. It must be mentioned also that in the same collection three-quarters of the 15th century - the greatest period - with is what is perhaps the most extraordinary of these parade their elegant proportions and subtly-modelled surfaces have armours, made in 1546 for Guidaboldo II della Rovere of justly been described as ‘sculpture in steel'. Two outstanding Urbino by Bartolomeo Campi of Pesaro. A complete version examples are a Milanese armour of c. 1440-45 in the Glasgow of an Imperial Roman armour with its muscled-cuirass, Museum (fig. 6), and the Gothic armour made for the embossed out of iron and damascened in gold, it is no more Archduke Sigmund of Tyrol in c. 1485 by Lorenz Helm- than a superlative fancy-dress costume. schmied of Augsburg, probably the greatest of all armourers, Alongside these parade-pieces, practical armour continued to in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. be produced for both the field and the tournament. Now, Apart from the Gothic timings and cuspings already however, a very large number of the high quality ones were mentioned, decoration during most of the 15th century was decorated with etched ornament, either fire-gilt, or set against largely confined, as before, to applied borders of brass or, more a blackened ground, and sometimes with the remaining areas rarely, silver or gold, though there are references in blued. Many of the ‘Little Masters', better known for their documents to more elaborate decoration on helmets. Also as prints, were involved in producing designs for this decoration.

19 7. Portions ofan embossed, gilt and damascened parade armour attributed to Lucio Piccinino of Milan, c. 1590. Wallace Collection, London.

as even, on occasions, were such great masters as Diirer and the younger Holbein. The 16th century also, however, saw the beginning of the decline of armour as a result of the increasing efficiency of firearms, and by the early 17th century it was well on its way to being generally discarded, though 8. Parade- of embossed and chased steel, blued and plated with gold and silver. Italian (probably Milan), c. 1610. Wallace Collection, London. pieces decorated with engraving and gilding continued to be made almost to the end of the century: for example, an armour in the Royal Armouries, made for King James II in 1685 by relief and pierced designs, and embellished with, or made of, Richard Holden of London. These, however, though usually silver or gold, and sometimes enamelled. Examples in the old fine pieces of craftsmanship, are a very long way from their princely armouries at Vienna and Dresden show that more 15th century predecessors, and cannot in any way be regarded exotic, and quite impractical, materials, like amber, crystal and as works of art in the full sense. coral, were also sometimes used, and illustrate how little Where amis are concerned, the beginning, very early in the functional considerations applied to the design of many century, of the fashion for gentlemen to wear a sword, usually rapiers. In short, the weapon was often treated as an item of accompanied by a dagger, with their everyday dress, and the masculine jewellery, and all the decorative techniques and development in the same period of the first self-igniting material found on jewellery were used on it and its successor, gun-lock had an immense influence on their decoration. the small-sword, which survived in regular use until the end of The practice of wearing a sword regularly led to the the 18th century. The same craftsmen were, in fact, often introduction of a specifically civilian form, the rapier, which responsible for both, and the Dresden collection includes a henceforth followed an independent, but mutually influential, number of 18th century sets comprising jewellery, snuff-box, line of development from the military sword. One result was shoe-buckles, walking stick, etc. all made cn suite with a to make it much more likely for men to be involved in small-sword and, in some cases, a hunting-sword. informal sword-fights, unprotected by armour or shield, and Firearms had been introduced in the early 14th century and so the development of scientific systems of fencing was until the beginning of the 16th century had to be ignited by a stimulated. The other result, as the wearing of a rapier soon piece of smouldering slow-match which, of course, had itself became a sign of rank, was that the wealthy began to treat it to be ignited before any shots could be fired. This meant that a and the dagger that at first accompanied it as costume gun could not be carried ready for instant use, while the accessories. Interchangeable scabbards and belts were made to smouldering match could give the shooter’s presence away to match particular suits of clothes, hilts and mounts were an enemy or to game. The invention round about 1500, elaborately decorated with, amongst other things, chiselling in probably by Leonardo de Vinci, of the wheellock changed all

20 this by making possible the production of both a practical wealth - like the parade-armours already mentioned - and cavalry firearm, the pistol, and of practical hunting-guns. In simpler, though still often beautifully decorated, pieces were consequence the wealthy classes, for the first time, started to used for practical purposes. take firearms seriously, especially for hunting, with results that In the late 18th century, with the advent of the Industrial were analogous to those already recounted in connection with Revolution, and the appearance of the superbly made but the rapier, so that from the second quarter of the century austere English sporting gun, and, worse still, mass-produced onwards elaborately decorated firearms were made in firearms, the skills of the artist-armourer were no longer increasing numbers. Most of the decorative techniques found required except for the rare special pieces made for presenta­ on rapiers were used, and, in addition, the stocks were inlaid tion or for display in one of the great 19th century industrial or overlaid with other materials, including even, on a superb exhibitions. The species is not quite extinct, however, and a set of c. 1600 at Vienna, made for the Emperor Rudolf IV, a few artists still continue to work in the old tradition decorating complete outer casing of delicately-enamelled silver. Such firearms for wealthy sportsmen. elaborate guns were, of course, made mainly for the display of

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