Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in EnglandEve, G. W. (George William)
History
Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in England
Eve, G. W. (George William)
Heraldry -- Great Britain
Examples of keys, also from the Spitzer Collection, are given in Figs.
188 and 189. The former bears the arms of a Cardinal Archbishop, and
the latter, which is excellently pierced and chiselled, has two lions
supporting a badge, a crowned castle. Each is of good design, its use
and material having been well considered so that it is of a decorative
shape that does not impede its usefulness. The latter is full of minute
and exquisite detail, indistinguishable in the illustration. Besides
the decoration of the barrel with a spiral band, there are eagles’
heads on its wards and the words “vive le roi” are twice inscribed on
it in letters of gold.
[Illustration: FIG. 190.--Repoussé Buckler in the Royal Armoury,
Stockholm.]
The beautiful and elaborate repoussé and engraved work that was very
largely employed in the decoration of metal in the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance, found full scope in the magnificent armour in which
the greatest artists and the most skilful craftsmen combined their
forces to make a gift that should be worthy of a princely hand.
Repoussé decoration consisted for the most part of the allegorical
and mythological subjects that were so fashionable at the period, and
comparatively little heraldry was done in that way. Engraving and
etching, on the other hand, were extensively used to decorate metal
with arms and badges.
In the execution of repoussé work a metal plate is fixed down to a bed
of pitch, a material which affords an efficient support while being
soft enough to yield to the shaping metal as it is hammered and punched
into the designed form. The work is afterwards chased and finished
on the face, but the essential quality is, of course, that of being
modelled into relief from behind. A very beautiful piece of repoussé
work is the quadrangular buckler, of late sixteenth century work, in
the Royal Armoury at Stockholm, which was bought in Holland by Charles
XV of Sweden (Fig. 190). The design is a fine bold treatment of the
Arms of the Visconti, and the workmanship is probably Italian. There is
a backplate with repoussé arms in the same collection.
[Illustration: FIG. 191.--Powder-horn with Armorials. The Royal
Armoury, Dresden. Sixteenth Century.]
The powder horn (Fig. 191) in the Royal Armoury at Dresden is a very
good example of the treatment of heraldry on a small object, and
incidentally shows the practice of placing helms on the heads of
supporters in order to display some of the crests.
[Illustration: FIG. 192.--Bill or Glaive, German (1620).]
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