Thomas Del Mar - Arms & Armour

295
AN ETCHED GERMAN COMB-MORION, NUREMBERG,
CIRCA 1580
formed in one piece with a hemispherical crown rising to a
high roped medial comb, and an integral brim turned down
at each side, rising to an obtuse point at the front and rear
(the front one slightly bruised), decorated around its edge
with a file-roped inward turn, the front struck with the
quality-control mark of the city of Nuremberg (the rear and
sides each pierced with later wiring-holes), the base of the
crown encircled by twelve round-headed lining-rivets with
rosette-washers of iron (one washer missing), finely etched
on each side of the crown with a circular cartouche
enclosing, on the right, a representation of the Sacrifice of
Isaac, and on the left, a mounted huntsman carrying a
spear, in each case overlaying a pattern of alternating
vertical bands respectively comprised of arabesque
interlace and scrolling foliage inhabited by birds of prey,
the latter design repeated on the comb and the brim and
involving in the case of the former, oval cartouches
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enclosing, on the right, a soldier holding a banner, and on
the left, a drummer, each in contemporary dress, the
etching executed throughout on a blackened and stippled
ground (light wear and patination overall)
29.1cm; 11I in high
The decoration of the helmet anticipates that found on a
distinctive group of Nuremburg morions of the early 17th century formerly preserved in the armoury of the Dukes of
Saxe-Coburg in the Wartburg, Thuringia. The scrolling
foliage and birds are similar in execution to those found on
a series of morions of about 1570 made for the Schurff
family, hereditary huntsmen of the Tyrol, examples of which
are to be found in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds,
and the Musée de l’Armée, Paris. See J-P. Reverseau 1982,
p. 50, fig. 2. A morion of similar form decorated with
arabesque interlace is preserved in the Historisches
Museum, Dresden (Schöbel 1976, fig. 40)
£4000-5000