[Sean Flynt]

This is the only medieval artwork I've seen relevant to modern discussions about the fit between medieval swords and scabbards. Here the horse has stumbled, pitching the rider forward and disarming him by dumping the sword from its scabbard. Interesting.

This image also is of interest to me because it depicts both blackened/blued armour and bright steel (the sword blade). It can be hard to judge armour color in medieval artwork because oftentimes the armour and arms are the same color--blue/black--suggesting tarnished silver rather than the artist's original color choice. There doesn't seem to be much doubt here that the artist is depicting dark armour.



Bekehrung des Hl. Paulus

Dieses Bild: 011691

Kunstwerk: Temperamalerei-Holz ; Einrichtung sakral ; Flügelaltar Peter und Paul-Altar ; Slowakei ; Apg:09:001-008
Dokumentation: 1490 ; 1500 ; Levoca ; Slowakei ; Pfarrkirche St. Jakob
Anmerkungen: 930x485 ; Levoca ; Libuse Cidlinska,Goticke kridlove oltare na Slovensku, 1989, S. 48f

[Ed Toton]

That is very interesting. I do wonder however if that was artistic license in showing the sword falling out, to make it emphatic at how bad of a fall it is. Hard to know.

I suspect armor was painted and colored more frequently than we think. There are references to people having "white" armor (by which I presume they mean bright, uncolored steel), which is interesting, since for that to be of note, that would mean at least a significant portion of armor was not so.

[Sean Flynt]

True, but even that suggests that this might have been commonly expected in the case of a bad forward fall from horseback. Since this is a religious scene (conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus, from persecutor to persecuted) there might also be some intentional symbolic value in his fall and conspicuous disarming.

I'm seeing lots of dark armour in the German/Austrian context ca. 1500.

[Nathan Gilleland]

If memory serves (which it fails to do quite frequently, so correct me if I'm wrong), it was considered rude and unknightly to be seen in highly polished armour. I believe this started in the court, and eventually became the cultural norm. It was common-place that someone's armour be dull, blued/blackened, or painted.

That's what I remember, but for the life of me, I can't recall the dates. I believe it was in the later 15th C. and on, but I'm not sure.

Correct me if I made any mistakes.

[Sean Flynt]