| Thomas R. wrote: |
|
Hi Chad, thanks for these pictures! But I think, an effigy was designed to inspire awe for the knight in his grave. The artist could have chiseled as many ornaments, as he can - without even seeing the actual scabbard. Or even a couple of years after the death of the knight, going with the fashion. So I think, the decorations are exaggerated. Look at this portrait of Federico Montefeltro. He was a very influential and wealthy man, but he shows it in other aspects than his scabbard. The artist could have made up any ornaments, too, but everybody would have seen his scabbard and known, it's not the real thing. Not so on an entombed knights effigy. Another example from late 15th century is the depiction of St. George, I added. In my opinion most modern scabbards are made to please our longing for a somehow romanticized middle age. And that's ok. I don't say there were no tooling back in period, like the occasional cross or line, especially in the high medieval era, but not to an extent, we see in high end reproductions today. Best regards, Thomas |
Thomas,
I won't dismiss the evidence of decorated scabbards as easily as you do. We'll have to agree to disagree. :)
We may, of course, be talking about different time periods that may have had their own styles. My examples are early 14th century; yours are 15th century. Perhaps the decoration went out of fashion at some point.