Embossed leather shields were intended for ceremonial use. The inner side of this example depicts the allegorical figures Plenty (above) and Truth (below), surrounded by Rennaissance foliage and putti. The exterior depicts Perseus rescuing Andromeda from a sea monster.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Shield
Date:ca. 1550
Geography:possibly Florence
Culture:Italian, possibly Florence
Medium:Wood, leather, iron
Dimensions:Diam. 22 in. (55.88 cm)
Classification:Shields
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1904
Object Number:04.3.261
[John Swaby, London, in 1850]; Albert Denison, 1st Lord Londesborough, Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England (by 1857–d. 1860; by descent to his son, the 1st Earl of Londesborough); William Henry Forester Denison, 1st Earl of Londesborough, Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England (1860–88; Armour and Arms . . . of the Right Hon. Earl of Londesborough, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, July 4–9, 1888, no. 299, sold, for £430, to Spitzer); [Frédéric Spitzer, Paris, 1888–d. 1890; his estate, 1890–95; Armes et Armures faisant partie de la collection Spitzer, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 10–14, 1895, no. 62, for Fr. 8,900, to Dino]; Charles Maurice Camille de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, Paris (until 1904; sold to MMA).
London. South Kensington Museum. "Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Medieval, Renaissance and More Recent Periods," June, 1862, no. 4629.
London. Alexandra Palace. "Londesborough Collection of Arms and Armour," 1875, no. 286.
Robins, George. Ancient Arms and Armour. London: George Robins, March 19–22, 1834. no. 374.
Royal Society of Arts. Catalogue of Works of Antient and Mediaeval Art: Exhibited at the House of the Society of Arts: London, 1850. London: Royal Society of Arts, 1850. p. 78, no. 816.
Fairholt, Frederick, and Thomas Wright. Miscellanea graphica: representations of ancient, medieval, and renaissance remains in the possession of Lord Londesborough. London: Chapman and Hall, 1857. pl. III.
Robinson, J. C., ed. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods, on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862. London: South Kensington Museum, 1862. cat. no. 4, 629.
South Kensington Museum. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Medieval, Renaissance and More Recent Periods On Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862, edited by Sir John Charles Robinson. London, June 1862. cat. no. 4, 629.
Robinson, J. C., ed. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods, on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862. Revised ed. London: South Kensington Museum, 1863. cat. no. 4, 629.
South Kensington Museum. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Medieval, Renaissance and More Recent Periods On Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1863, edited by Sir John Charles Robinson. rev. ed. ed. London, 1863. cat. no. 4, 629.
Chaffers, William. Catalogue of the Londesborough Collection of Arms and Armour: with a Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Works of Art, the Property of Lord Londesborough. London: Harrison and Sons, 1875. pp. 12-13, no. 286.
Spitzer, Frédéric. "Armes et Armures." In La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité--Moyen-Âge--Renaissance. Vol. VI. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1892. p. 21, no. 91 (M.M.A. shield described), pl. XXIII (M.M.A. shield ill.).
Galerie Georges Petit. Catalogue des Armes et Armures Faisant Partie de la Collection Spitzer. Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, June 10–14 1895. no. 62.
Cosson, Charles Alexander. Le Cabinet d'Armes de Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1901. p. 43, D. 3 (our shield described, called Italian, mid-XVI century), pl. 12.
Laking, Guy Francis, Charles A. de Cosson, and Francis Henry Cripps-Day. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries. Vol. IV. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1920–1922. pl. 238, fig. 1310 (our shield ill.; called Italian, ca. 1560), p. 239 (our shield described).
Gall, Gunter. "Leather objects in the Philadelphia Museum of Art." Bulletin of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (July-Sept. 1967), pp. 266–68, no. 294.
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