{"id":1675,"date":"2020-04-28T16:59:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T16:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cesatiecesati.com\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2023-07-29T08:12:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T08:12:00","slug":"an-important-shaffron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/an-important-shaffron\/","title":{"rendered":"An Important Shaffron"},"content":{"rendered":"

This wonderful shaffron (from the French\u00a0chamfrain<\/em>) \u2013 the part of a horse\u2019s armour protecting its head \u2013 perfectly documents the Turkish 16th century armour, made up of several metal plates connected one another by iron mails; a light and flexible defence derived from that used by the Islamic heavy cavalry.
\nThe piece here presented consists of four elements: a central plate, two lateral ones and a small plate over the central one, all of them joined together by a thick mail of forged and individually riveted rings according to the medieval \u201cbarley grain\u201d technique (grain d\u2019orge<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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All the plates are perforated along the edges to fix a fabric lining inside, for the comfort of the horse head. The main plate which is shaped -as well as the two lateral ones- to allow the horse to see, has a small visor in the upper section. Under the visor it is clearly visible the Arsenal of St. Irene Hallmark \u2013 that is the one of the famous Costantinople armoury, located in a courtyard of the Topkapi Palace.<\/p>\n

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This rare mark, well-known to scholars, appears only on the arms and armours entering that armoury at the time of Sultan Selim (1512-1520), the father of Suleyman the Magnificent. The arsenal consisted of equipment for the great Ottoman army and booties from Egypt, Persia or Hungary (Grancsay 1986, p. 447).
\nThe Byzantine church of St. Irene, was the first one commissioned by Constantine in the 4th century; after 1453 it became an arsenal, during the 18th century a Museum of Antiquities and from 1946 to 1978 a Museum of Arms.<\/p>\n

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Sultan Suleyman during the Siege of Rhodes (1522, det. of a miniature from the Suleymanname). Istanbul, Topkapi Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A shaffron very similar to the present one is nowadays preserved in the Topkapi Museum of Arms, another one belongs to the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York (inv. 36.25.506) and a third one is preserved in the Stibbert Museum in Florence (inv. 3514-3517), all three with the same hallmark.
\nUnlike most of the shaffrons known where only the central plate has been preserved, our example has all its original elements and this completeness undoubtedly makes the present piece a particularly rare one.<\/p>\n

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SHAFFRON<\/strong>
\nSteel
\nTurkey (Istanbul)
\nEarly 16th century
\nCm 44 x 44h<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/em>: H. R. Robinson,\u00a0Il Museo Stibbert<\/em>, Milano 1967, vol I, tav. 1-6, spec. Tav. 2;\u00a0L\u2019Armeria Reale di Torino<\/em>, ed. by F. Mazzini, Varese 1983 pl. 363, p. 402-403; S. Grancsay,\u00a0Arms and Armor: essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin<\/em>, 1920-1964, New York 1986; H. Ricketts and Ph. Missillier,\u00a0Splendeur des armes orientales<\/em>, Paris 1988; T. G\u00fc\u00e7k\u0131ran,\u00a0Askeri M\u00fcze At Z\u0131rhlar\u0131 Koleksiyonu<\/em>, Istanbul 2009.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NO LONGER AVAILABLE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This wonderful shaffron (from the French\u00a0chamfrain) \u2013 the part of a horse\u2019s armour protecting its head \u2013 perfectly documents the Turkish 16th century armour, made up of several metal plates connected one another by iron mails; a light and flexible defence derived from that used by the Islamic heavy cavalry. The piece here presented consists …<\/p>\n

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