CIRCA 1560-1565
Details
Portions Of A Milanese Garniture For The Field And Tournament Ascribed To Emmanuel Philibert, Duke Of Savoy (1528-1580)
Circa 1560-1565
Comprising:
One-piece Spanish morion of characteristic form with narrow flat brim and tubular brass plume-holder at the rear
Breast-plate of peasecod form with a strong roped turn at the neck, moveable gussets at the arm-holes, piercings on the right for a lance-rest (missing), and the top plate from the fauld
Right pauldron with main central plate and respectively two and three narrower articulated plates above and below
Pauldron-reinforce of a single plate etched and gilt with a central leaf containing strapwork and pierced with a central hole for an attachment-bolt, closely shaped to the pauldron and with a low haute-piece
Gauntlets each with a flaring pointed cuff, six articulated metacarpal plates, and a ridged finger-plate shaped to the bases of the fingers (fingers missing)
Circular one-piece steel target slightly concave on the inner side and with central fleur-de-lys spike rising from a separate iron rosette, retaining its original brown velvet lining with an applied herringbone pattern of multi-coloured braid, and original partly velvet-covered leather braces
Half-shaffron shaped to the front of the horse's head down to the upper part of the muzzle, with flanged cut-outs for the eyes, separate riveted ear-pieces, tubular brass plume-holder, bolt for escutcheon (missing), and separate pate-plate attached by a leather hinge
Saddle with original padded leather-covered tree (partly concealed under modern textile) with high bow and cantle, the former protected by four plates, three on the front and a single one inside its apex, the rear of the latter by two plates, the main plates secured by screws with rosette-like heads
All pieces with roped edges and domed brass lining-rivets, the surfaces throughout bright with broad etched and gilt bands and borders containing partly-foliated interlaced strapwork, forming quadruple loops at intervals, within narrow borders of close-set diagonal motifs, and all pieces (except the target) painted inside with a red inventory number '16'
The garniture to which these pieces belong is shown worn by Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (1528-80) on a portrait of circa 1565 by Giacomo Vighi detto l'Argenta (d. 1573) in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin. The majority of the parts known to survive are in the Armeria Reale, Turin (Nos. B4, etc.), but a burgonet is said to be in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris, and other pieces in the Musée Royale d'Armes et d'Armures, Brussels (II. 29, IV. 7), while in 1840 a helmet and a breast-plate were in the possession respectively of the Conte S. Martino La Motta and the Marchese Claudio d'Aix. The general style of the garniture points clearly to a Milanese origin, and Angelucci (pp. 57-8), identified it with one of three armours recorded as being supplied to Emmanuel Philibert by Giovan Paolo Negroli of Milan in 1561. In the absence of descriptions of these, however, this cannot be regarded as anything more than an interesting possibility. Compare also the contemporary armour of Valerio Corvino Zacchei at Turin (Nos. B7 etc.) which bears almost identical decoration (9)
Circa 1560-1565
Comprising:
One-piece Spanish morion of characteristic form with narrow flat brim and tubular brass plume-holder at the rear
Breast-plate of peasecod form with a strong roped turn at the neck, moveable gussets at the arm-holes, piercings on the right for a lance-rest (missing), and the top plate from the fauld
Right pauldron with main central plate and respectively two and three narrower articulated plates above and below
Pauldron-reinforce of a single plate etched and gilt with a central leaf containing strapwork and pierced with a central hole for an attachment-bolt, closely shaped to the pauldron and with a low haute-piece
Gauntlets each with a flaring pointed cuff, six articulated metacarpal plates, and a ridged finger-plate shaped to the bases of the fingers (fingers missing)
Circular one-piece steel target slightly concave on the inner side and with central fleur-de-lys spike rising from a separate iron rosette, retaining its original brown velvet lining with an applied herringbone pattern of multi-coloured braid, and original partly velvet-covered leather braces
Half-shaffron shaped to the front of the horse's head down to the upper part of the muzzle, with flanged cut-outs for the eyes, separate riveted ear-pieces, tubular brass plume-holder, bolt for escutcheon (missing), and separate pate-plate attached by a leather hinge
Saddle with original padded leather-covered tree (partly concealed under modern textile) with high bow and cantle, the former protected by four plates, three on the front and a single one inside its apex, the rear of the latter by two plates, the main plates secured by screws with rosette-like heads
All pieces with roped edges and domed brass lining-rivets, the surfaces throughout bright with broad etched and gilt bands and borders containing partly-foliated interlaced strapwork, forming quadruple loops at intervals, within narrow borders of close-set diagonal motifs, and all pieces (except the target) painted inside with a red inventory number '16'
The garniture to which these pieces belong is shown worn by Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (1528-80) on a portrait of circa 1565 by Giacomo Vighi detto l'Argenta (d. 1573) in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin. The majority of the parts known to survive are in the Armeria Reale, Turin (Nos. B4, etc.), but a burgonet is said to be in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris, and other pieces in the Musée Royale d'Armes et d'Armures, Brussels (II. 29, IV. 7), while in 1840 a helmet and a breast-plate were in the possession respectively of the Conte S. Martino La Motta and the Marchese Claudio d'Aix. The general style of the garniture points clearly to a Milanese origin, and Angelucci (pp. 57-8), identified it with one of three armours recorded as being supplied to Emmanuel Philibert by Giovan Paolo Negroli of Milan in 1561. In the absence of descriptions of these, however, this cannot be regarded as anything more than an interesting possibility. Compare also the contemporary armour of Valerio Corvino Zacchei at Turin (Nos. B7 etc.) which bears almost identical decoration (9)
Provenance
Armeria Reale, Turin
Economos Collection (No.s 123, 124, 129, 130-33, 388, 389)
W.R. Hearst
Anon. sale, Galerie Fischer, Luzern, 29 November 1972, Lot 71
Economos Collection (No.s 123, 124, 129, 130-33, 388, 389)
W.R. Hearst
Anon. sale, Galerie Fischer, Luzern, 29 November 1972, Lot 71
Literature
A. Angelucci, Catalogo della Armeria Reale, Turin, 1890, Nos. B4, C86, C151, C227/8, E12, B7, E38, F23; B. Thomas & O. Gamber, "L'Arte Milanese dell'Armatura", Storia di Milano, XI, Milan, 1958, pp. 780, 809; O. Gamber, "Der Italienische Harnisch im 16. Jahrhundert", Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, 54, 1958, pp. 95, 96, 99; L.G. Boccia & E. Coelho, L'Arte dell'Armatura in Italia, Milan, 1967, Nos. 369, 372, plates 368-71, pp. 458-9, 467-8; F. Mazzini (ed.), L'Armeria Reale di Torino, Busto Arsizio, 1982, plates 16-18a, pp. 327-8; J.A. Godoy, "Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie (1528-1580): un portrait, une armure", Genava, n.s. XXXII, Geneva, 1984, pp. 67-70
Further details
See front cover illustration