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This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, German, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Moorish shield (adarga)

Location:

Vienna, Austria

Holding Museum:

Kunsthistorisches Museum

About Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Date of Object:

Hegira before 897 / AD before 1492

Museum Inventory Number:

HJRK_C_195

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Natural coloured calf leather, coloured silk embroidery

Dimensions:

Height: 89cm, Width: 75cm

Period / Dynasty:

Nasrid

Provenance:

Spain

Description:

The shape of this shield is derived from North African and Moorish models. The name of this kidney-shaped shield also informed the name of an oval shield popular in the Occident, the Tartsche. The adarga is covered with colourful silk embroidery, suggesting a high-ranking owner. The shield, now in Vienna, probably entered the Habsburg collections when Juana I of Castile (AD 1479–1555) married Philip I (Philip the Handsome) (AD 1478–1506). In the late 16th century the shield was in the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II (AD 1529–95) at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck.

How date and origin were established:

Craftsmanship

How Object was obtained:

Most likely Battle of Lucena in AD 1483 and from there through Philip I or Charles V to Austria

How provenance was established:

Castle Ambras inventory

Selected bibliography:

Beaufort-Spontin, Christian and Pfaffenbichler, Matthias, Meisterwerke der Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer, Wien: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, 2005.
Dodds, Jerrilynn (ed), Al-Andalus. Las artes islamicas en espana/The Art of Islamic Spain, New York: The Metropolitan Museum, 1992.
Thomas, Bruno, "Aus der Waffensammlung in der Neuen Burg zu Wien: Orientalische Kostbarkeiten", Bustan, 4 : 5 (1963/64).
Thomas, Bruno and Gamber, Ortwin, Katalog der Leibrüstkammer I. Teil. Der Zeitraum von 500 bis 1530, Wien: Verlag Anton Schroll & Co, 1976.

Citation of this web page:

Matthias Pfaffenbichler, Tobias Roeder "Moorish shield (adarga)" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;at;Mus22;25;en

Prepared by: Matthias Pfaffenbichler, Tobias Roeder
Copyedited by: Liz Cooper

MWNF Working Number: AT2 25

RELATED CONTENT

 Artistic Introduction

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Nasrids


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