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, 49.57.1), 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.

Artwork Details

Object Information

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Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Hungarian-Style Shield
Date: ca. 1500–1550
Culture: Eastern European
Medium: Wood, leather, gesso, polychromy
Dimensions: H. 45 in. (114.3 cm); W. 25 in. (63.5 cm)
Classification: Shields
Credit Line: Gift of Stephen V. Grancsay, 1942
Object Number: 42.50.30
Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor

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Hungarian-Style Shield, Wood, leather, gesso, polychromy, Eastern European — Hungarian-Style Shield
Eastern European
ca. 1500–1550

Sword, Steel, silver, copper alloy, leather, Western European — Sword
Western European
ca. 1400

Crossbow of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary (reigned 1458–1490), Wood, horn, animal sinew, staghorn, birch bark, iron alloy, Central or Eastern European, possibly Vienna — Crossbow of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary (reigned 1458–1490)
Central or Eastern European, possibly Vienna
dated 1489

Crossbow of Count Ulrich V of Württemberg (1413–1480), Heinrich Heid von Winterthur probably Swiss, Wood (European hornbeam), horn, animal sinew, staghorn, birch bark, iron alloy, copper alloy, pigment, German, probably Stuttgart — Crossbow of Count Ulrich V of Württemberg (1413–1480)
Attributed to Heinrich Heid von Winterthur
dated 1460

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