CIRCA 1580

Details

A Fine And Rare German (Saxon) Mail 'Bishop's Mantle'
Circa 1580
A long cape of more than 100,000 exceptionally small riveted rings, of steel with latten borders at the neck and hem, comprising a standing collar of semi-rigid mail extended downwards over the points of the shoulders, then continued with slightly larger rings, and front opening extending to mid-chest level fastened by one large and three small elaborate silver-gilt 'hook and eye' clasps by Wolf Pohle or Paller of Dresden (d. 1583), cast and chased with scrollwork and conventional foliage and with traces of coloured enamel
31½in. (80cm.)

Provenance

The Saxon Electoral Armoury, Dresden
W.R. Hearst, St. Donat's Castle, Glamorganshire (by direct purchase)

Literature

Hayward, pp. 42-43, fig. XVII
Hayward & Blair, p. 86, fig. 8

Exhibited

Art of the Armourer, cat. no. 2

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Similar 'bishops' mantles' remain in the Historisches Museum, Dresden. Another is in the town museum of Lindau, Lake Constance (Bodensee)
See Diener-Schönberg, p. 13, no. 11
Haenel, plate 25
Bäumel, pp. 50-51, 132

For Wolf Pohle see Hayward 1976, pp. 316, 739

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