These tassets originally were part of a very elaborate armor. Their decoration features the pillars of Hercules, supported by griffins, and the firesteel of Burgundy, which were badges of Charles V.
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Armorer: or Desiderius Helmschmid (German, Augsburg, 1513–1579)
Date:ca. 1530–40
Geography:Augsburg
Culture:German, Augsburg
Medium:Steel, gold
Dimensions:L. of each 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm); W. of each 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm); Wt. of right tasset 1 lb. 1 oz. (482 g); Wt. of left tasset 1 lb. 2 oz. (510 g)
Classification:Armor Parts
Credit Line:Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Bequest of Bashford Dean, 1928
Object Number:29.150.1d, e
Emperor Charles V, Valladolid (until d. 1558); Real Armería, Madrid (by 1594–before 1836); [Eusebio Zuloaga, Madrid, until 1836; sold to Le Page]; [Henri Le Page, Paris, from 1836]; Prince Frederick Charles Alexander of Prussia, Berlin (by 1876–83; sold to the Berlin Zeughaus); Staatliches Zeughaus, Berlin (1883–1922; sold to Dean); Bashford Dean, New York (1922–d. 1928; his bequest to MMA).
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance," October 22, 1977–January 8, 1978, no. 111.
Granada. Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios. "Carlos V," April 13–June 25, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cranach's Saint Maurice," April 20–July 27, 2015.
Berlepsch, H. A., and Kunst- und Kunstgewerbe-Ausstellung. Kunst- und Kunstgewerbe-Ausstellung München 1876: Auswahl der Instructivsten und Künstlerisch Vollendetsten Gegenstände Alter und Neuer Meister zum Practischen Detailstudiumn, edited by Johann Baptist Obernetter. Vol. 1 & 2. Munich, 1876. vol.1, pl. 3 and vol. 2, pls. 126, 128 and 135.
Hiltl, Georg. Die Waffensammlung Sr. Königlichen Hoheit des Prinzen Carl von Preussen. Vol. 1. Berlin: W. Moeser, 1876. p. 176, no. 1017a.
Kunst-und Kunstindustrie-Austellung Alter un Neuer Deutscher-Meister. Katalog der Kunst- und Kunstindustrie-Ausstellung alter und neuer deutscher Meister sowie der deutschen Kunstschulen im Glaspalaste zu München 1876.. Vol. 1 & 2. Munich: Dr. C. Wolf & Sohn, 1876. no specifics listed in cards.
Hiltl, Georg. Die Waffensammlung Sr. Königlichen Hoheit des Prinzen Carl von Preussen. Vol. 2. Nuremberg: S. Soldan, 1877. no. 1017a, pl. XVII, ill.
Valencia de Don Juan, Count. "Bilderinventar der Waffen, Rüstungen, Gewänder und Standarten Karl V. in der Armeria Real zu Madrid." Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses (1889), p. CCCLIV, Taf. 11, ill.
Berlin Zeughaus. Das Königliche Zeughaus: Führer durch die Ruhmeshalle und die Sammlungen. 3 ed. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, 1903. p. 47, no. 75 (this armor, identified as being "extensively completed").
Berlin Zeughaus. Das Königliche Zeughaus: Führer durch die Ruhmeshalle und die Sammlungen. Berlin: Julius Bard, 1914. p. 76, no. 122 (the composed armor with which these tassets were formerly associated).
Grancsay, Stephen V. "A Pate Defense of the Emperor Maximillian II." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1931), pp. 125–27, ill.
Cripps-Day, F. H. "An Inventory of the Armour of Charles V." Fragmenta Armamentaria (1951), pp. 34–35, 125, 127 (these tassets mentioned in connection with the Inventario Illuminado and inventory, or Relacion of 1557, of the armory of Charles V).
Mayor, A. Hyatt. "The Gifts that Made the Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (November 1957), p. 93, ill.
Granscay, S. V. "The Illustrated Inventory of the Arms and Armor of Emperor Charles V." In Homenaje al Profesor Rodríguez-Moñino. Madrid: Castalia, 1966. p. 7, appendix no. 3, fig. 1.
Gamber, Ortwin. "Kolman Helmshmid, Ferdinand I. und das Thun'sche Skizzenbuch." Jahrbuch der Kunsthistroischen Sammlungen in Wien 71 pp. 37–38 (summarizes style of Desiderius Helmschmid and reattributes Madrid armors A.49–A.107).
Grancsay, Stephen V., D. Graeme Keith, and Dr. Charles Avery. The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance. San Francisco: Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1977. pp. 46, 48, 86, no. 111, fig. 63.
Hiltl, Georg. Die Waffensammlung Sr. Königlichen Hoheit des Prinzen Carl von Preussen. 2nd ed. Fridingen: Graf Klenau, 1981. p. 176, no. 1017a, pl. XVII, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V., and Stuart W. Pyhrr. Arms & Armor: Essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920–1964. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. pp. 80–81, fig. 29.2.
Marías, Fernando, Felipe Pereda Espeso, and Universidad de Granada. Carlos V: Las Armas y Las Letras: Hospital Real, Granada 14 De Abril–25 De Junio, 2000. Madrid, April 14–June 25, 2000. p. 282, no. 5, ill.
Volk-Knüttel, Brigitte. "In Munchen, in Mailand Gestickt. Ein Prunkreizeug Kurfurst Maximilians I. Von Bayern." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, (2000), pp. 142–3, figs. 7–8, ill.
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