A RARE GERMAN MITTEN GAUNTLET

Details

A RARE GERMAN MITTEN GAUNTLET

EARLY 17TH CENTURY

For the right hand, of russet steel, ribbed in imitation of the 'Maximilian' style, and comprising pointed cuff with recessed and finely roped border encircled by a row of lining rivets and struck with the Nuremberg mark, metacarpal and finger defences of nine articulated plates with narrow roped plates of gable section across the knuckles, the end finger-plate bluntly pointed and with roped recessed border and rivets en suite with the cuff, separate hinged thumb defence of one large and two small plates, this and the knuckle-plates with castellated edges, and domed lining rivets throughout, retaining its original leather straps, the wrist strap with iron buckle, and buff leather lining with the figure 9 or 6 painted on the palm
15in. (38cm.) long

Lot Essay

This gauntlet belongs to a very rare group of Nuremberg armours made in archaic style in the early 17th Century. One, in the Royal Armouries (No. III. 1288-9) is dated 1612 on the back-plate. The date coincides with that of a state visit to Nuremberg of the Emperor Matthias, and it has been suggested that the armours might have been made for a guard of burghers dressed in what was thought to be the style of Albrecht Dürer's time. The group is discussed by A.V.B. Norman in connection with armours Nos. A 26 and A 27 in the Wallace Collection in Wallace Collection Catalogues. European Arms and Armour Supplement (1986), pp. 6-7. Among the pieces belonging to it there is listed a pair of gauntlets in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

More from Arms & Armour

View All