Best Gauntlets, Hands Down
Maximilian I’s Gauntlets, from The Last Knight Exhibit, gallery 899.
Gladys Cooper as the formidable mother in Now Voyager, from the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty (Sylvia Plath’s patron).
From the very start of this project (see Week One), my MetPercent plan was: Move to NY, go through the entire Met, room by room in numerical order.When I described this, every colleague and friend asked, “Even the Armor?”
“Yes, even the Armor.”
It is upon me. Blades, bludgeons, and blunderbusses abound in the Arms and Armor Collection.
Weapons again.
Arms and the Man1 (I Sing)2
Warhorses
Assorted Shaffrons (Horse's Head Defense), 15th-16th c., galleries 371, 373, and 379
In Old Arabic, the word for “Chivalry” (Furúsiyyah as horsemanship) (فروسه) was also the word for “Virtue” and “Honour” (Múruwwa as chivalric values) (مروه). Romantic chivalry in medieval Europe is widely considered the continuation of al-furusiyyah al-arabiya. Horsemanship and Poetry were two of the foundational requirements.
Muru’ah and the Code of Chivalry
— Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i, the founder of the Shafi’ite rite in Islam.767–820 CE.
If you want to live free from harm’s way
And in good fortune and honor,
Your tongue, if it utters something indecent, stop it and say,
“Oh tongue other people have tongues.”
If your eyes see something immoral, close them and say,
“Oh eyes other people have eyes.”
Practice beneficence and be magnanimous to ones who attack
And depart with that which is better.
Montaigne was a dedicated horseman and wrote an entire essay “Of Warhorses, or Destriers”, covering the War- horsemanship of the ancients. His wish was to die either in his garden working the cabbages or on horseback.
Chivalry-Now (and then)
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Honoré Daumier, French, 19th century (not on view).
Warrior, religious, and courtly love chivalries. Created and debunked, and yet these chivalries are desired, and return and return, the code usurped and adorned.
From Don Quixote, Ivanhoe, abortion bombers (“Protectors of the Code”), the KKK, General MacArthur. . . to the International Fellowship of Chivalry-Now (http://www.chivalrynow.net/sitemap.htm).
Hats Off
A 1947 survey for the Hat Research Foundation (yes, a real entity) found that 19 percent of men who did not wear hats gave “because I had to in the army” as the main reason. The general belief is that when a formerly functional item of clothing becomes purely decorative, it usually doesn’t last more than a generation or two.
Not Quite the Knight
Montaigne’s Cenotaph, Prieur and Guillerman, 1593, Museum of Aquitaine, Burgundy.
Montaigne was late to Knighthood. “He probably never wore armor during his life, at least not on a battlefield. It must be seen as a final homage to his father, the only member of the Eyquem family who actually waged war. The transformation of Montaigne into a noble gentleman was completed only after his death.” (See Montaigne: A Life by Philippe Desan, 2019).
In his cenotaph, his representation is unusual in that his helmet and gauntlets are not worn but placed “nearby”.
Weapons, Status, Luxury, and Guilt
Smith and Wesson New Model No. 3, .44 Caliber Double-Action Navy Revolver, ca. 1891–92, side and butt views, gallery 372. Winchester Model 1894, Takedown Lever Action Rifle, 1895-1900, gallery 372. Winchester House, Palo Alto, CA.
Tiffany & Co. adorned a series of revolvers for Smith and Wesson with gems, in this case turquoise and lapis lazuli. They are spectacular. The Met has several: https://www.metmuseum.org/search-results#!/search?q=Smith%20wesson&orderByCountDesc=true&page=1
As for Tiffany’s Winchester rifle: It was technically able to fire bullets . . . but the thick silver cladding made it impossible to disassemble and clean, and the ebony wood made it too heavy to use effectively.
After her husband's death in 1881, Sarah Winchester inherited more than $20.5 million (equivalent to $532 million in 2018) and nearly fifty percent ownership of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, giving her an income of roughly $1,000 per day, equivalent to $26,000 a day in 2018.
A Boston medium told her (while supposedly channeling her late husband) that she should leave her home in New Haven and travel West, where she must continuously build a home for herself and the spirits of people who had fallen victim to Winchester rifles . . .10,000 windows, 2,000 doors (including the one to nowhere). Wow.
https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/sarahs-story/
fascinating
Posted by: Grace Cavalieri | December 14, 2019 at 09:08 AM