Shield for the Field or Tournament (Targe)
The surface of the shield is painted with delicate foliate scrolls in silver leaf (now tarnished) on a black ground. During its working life, the shield was painted a second time with two shields bearing the arms of the Nuremberg patrician families Ketzel (on a black ground, a silver monkey holding a gold ball) and Igelbrecht (on a silver ground, a black hedgehog with three gold apples stuck on its spine). The arms may have been added in the late fifteenth century by the Ketzel family as a memorial to Heinrich Ketzel the Elder (died 1438), a citizen of Nuremberg by 1435–36, and his wife Anna Igelbrecht, who married in 1391.
Artwork Details
- Title: Shield for the Field or Tournament (Targe)
- Date: ca. 1450–1500
- Culture: German
- Medium: Wood, leather, silver, gesso, polychromy, iron
- Dimensions: 21 x 18 in. (53.3 x 45.7 cm)
- Classification: Shields
- Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Florence Blumenthal, 1925
- Object Number: 25.26.6
- Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor
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German
ca. 1450
Kolman Helmschmid
ca. 1525
German
15th century
Kunz Lochner
dated 1549
German, Landshut or Augsburg
ca. 1560
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