This shield is painted with a coat of arms belonging either to the Gottsmann family or to the related Türriegel family, both of Franconia. The female figure at the side holds a banderole inscribed in part with a motto in German: HAB MYCH ALS ICH BIN... (Take me as I am...). The decoration, with its brilliant colors on a silver-foil ground, is remarkably well preserved because it was hidden for centuries beneath layers of later paint. On the leather-lined back of the shield are traces of a painted figure of Saint Christopher, whose image was thought to protect against sudden death.
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Dimensions:H. 22 in. (55.88 cm); W. 16 in. (40.64 cm); Wt. 4 lb. 12.15 oz. (2159 g)
Classification:Shields
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Florence Blumenthal, 1925
Object Number:25.26.1
Inscription: The female figure holds a banderole inscribed in part with a motto in German: HAB MYCH ALS ICH BIN (Take me as I am).
[J. W. Böhler, Lucerne, by 1923–25; sold through Bashford Dean to MMA, January 19, 1925].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300–1550," April 8–June 22, 1986, no. 60.
Nuremberg. Germanisches Nationalmuseum. "Nürnberg 1300–1550: Kunst der Gotik und Renaissance," July 24–September 28, 1986, no. 60.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Defensive Display: Shields from The Met Collection," May 12, 2025–Ongoing.
Dean, Bashford. "Seven Shields of Behaim." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (March 1925), pp. 74–77, fig. 4.
Illustrated London News. "A Unique Discovery from Nuremberg: Fifteenth-Century Shields." Illustrated London News (September 5, 1925), p. 444, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. "The Tournament." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (1973–74), p. 86, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Ullstein-Waffenbuch: eine kulturhistorische Waffenkunde mit Markenverzeichnis. Berlin: Ullstein, 1974. p. 35, ill.
Angerer, Martin, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Nürnberg, 1300–1550: Kunst der Gotik und Renaissance. 1st ed. Munich: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. pp. 201–3, no. 60a, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300–1550. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 1986. pp. 201–3, no. 60a, ill.
Faltermeier, Christel, and Rudolf Meyer. "Appendix: Notes on the Restoration of the Behaim Shields." Metropolitan Museum Journal (1995), pp. 53–60.
Nickel, Helmut. "The Seven Shields of Behaim: New Evidence." Metropolitan Museum Journal 30 pp. 29–51, figs. 1, 38–39, 41–46, front cover.
Gotsmann, Reinhard. Die Herren von Gottsmann zu Neuhaus, Thurn, Büg und Brand: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Genealogie eines fränkischen Adelsgeschlechtes. Vol. 1. Hamburg: Selbstverlag Reinhard Gotsmann, 2002. pp. 593–96, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Thomas P. Campbell. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 160, ill.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. "Of Arms and Men: Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan, 1912–2012." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 2012), pp. 24–25, figs. 35–36.
Brine, Douglas. "Reflection and Remembrance in Jan van Eyck's Van der Paele Virgin." Art History (September 2018), pp. 610–11, figs. 9–10.
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