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Hungarian-Style Shield

ca. 1500–1550
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 373
This wing-shaped shield and others like it in the Metropolitan Museum's collection (42.50.29, .30), with the distinctive upward-sweeping back edge, were the characteristic light-cavalry shields of Hungary. During the sixteenth century, the style was adopted across much of eastern Europe by both Christian and Islamic horsemen. The shield's elongated upper edge was designed to defend the back of the head and neck against cuts from a saber, the preferred cavalry weapon in that region.

This shield is painted on its exterior with the double-bladed sword of the prophet Muhammad and on its interior with the Crucifix and instruments of the Passion. This unusual mix of Islamic and Christian symbols suggests that the shield was used in a tournament by a Christian warrior dressed in Muslim fashion. In these "Hungarian style" tournaments, the participants wore Hungarian and Turkish costumes and used sabers to strike off feathers attached to their opponents' helmets and to the apex of their painted shields. Even at a time when Turkish armies were a constant threat to eastern Europe, their costumes and tactics were imitated by their foes.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hungarian-Style Shield
  • Date: ca. 1500–1550
  • Culture: Eastern European
  • Medium: Wood, leather, gesso, polychromy
  • Dimensions: H. 32 1/2 in. (82.55 cm); W. 21 5/8 in. (54.91 cm)
  • Classification: Shields
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1949
  • Object Number: 49.57.1
  • Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor

More Artwork

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Tournament or Cavalry Shield (Targe), Wood, leather, gesso, silver, paint, probably Austrian
Tournament or Cavalry Shield (Targe)
probably Austrian
early 15th century
Shield for the Field or Tournament (Targe), Wood, leather, linen, gesso, pigments, silver, German
Shield for the Field or Tournament (Targe)
German
ca. 1450
Shield, Girolamo da Treviso Italian, Wood, linen, gesso, gold leaf, polychromy, Italian, probably Bologna
Shield
Girolamo da Treviso
ca. 1535
Hungarian-Style Shield
Eastern European
ca. 1500–1550
Hungarian-Style Shield
Eastern European
ca. 1500–1550

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