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Cracking the Code

Dirk H. Breiding
2 min. watch

“Art history is very much like detective work, and if you’re lucky there’s even a mystery to be solved.”

Curator Dirk Breiding on a 1460 crossbow attributed to Heinrich Heid von Winterthur.

Contributors

Dirk H. Breiding
Assistant Curator, Department of Arms and Armor

Photography by Joseph Coscia Jr.

Art Mentioned

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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