This example is one of a series of morions etched with the arms of the cooper's guild: a pair of compasses opened above a short-handled cooper's ax and supported by two goats. Helmets emblazoned with the heraldic arms of an individual ruler, an aristocratic house, or even a municiplity are commonplace (see, for example, acc. nos. 04.3.219, 04.3.222, 14.25.532, and 29.156.46), but this group is the only one recorded as bearing the emblem of a craft guild. These helmets are traditionally said to come from Cologne.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Comb Morion
Date:ca. 1600
Geography:Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Culture:German
Medium:Steel, lead, textile
Dimensions:H. 12 3/8 in. (31.4 cm); W. 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm); D. 14 7/16 in. (36.7 cm); Wt. 4 lb. (1819 g)
Classification:Helmets
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1928
Accession Number:28.195.1
Ex coll.: Gregory Nycander, Ljungskile, Sweden
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Helmets 1450–1650: Treasures from the Reserve Collection," January 25, 2000–December 30, 2001, no. 51.
J. M. Heberle. Katalog der reichhaltigen und ausgewählten Waffen–Sammlung des Herrn A.Ullmann in München. Kriegs– und Jagdwaffen, Rüstzeug, Geräthe, etc. etc. Cologne: J. M. Heberle, Nov16–18, 1891. p.3, lot 19, ill.
Catalog der Kunst-Sammlungen des am 6. November 1880 in Cöln verstorbenen Herrn Carl Damian Disch.. Cologne: J. M. Heberle, May 12–21, 1881. p.78, lots 864, 865.
R. Zschille'sche Waffensammlung. Berlin: Rudolph Lepke, March 21–22, 1900. no. 11, ill.
"Katalog der reichhaltigen, nachgelassenen Kunst-Sammlung des Herrn Karl Thewalt in Köln. Versteigerung zu Köln, Mittwoch den 4. bis Samstag den 14. November 1903, im Saale der Bürgergesellschaft, unter Leitung von Peter Hanstein." In Kunst-Sammlung des Herrn Karl Thewalt in Köln. Cologne: Kunsthaus Lempertz, November 4–14, 1903. lot 1576.
Cripps-Day, Francis Henry. A Record of Armour Sales, 1881–1924. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1925. p. 1.
Sotheby's, New York. European Works of Art, Arms and Armour, Furniture and Tapestries. New York: Sotheby's, New York, May 26, 1992. lot 377, ill.
Laking, Guy Francis, Charles Alexander Cosson, Francis Henry Cripps-Day, and Claude Blair. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries. Vol. 6. Cambridge: Ken Trotman Ltd., 2000. p. 1.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. European Helmets, 1450–1650: Treasures from the Reserve Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jan 25, 2000 - Dec 30, 2000. p. 33, cat. no. 51, ill.
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