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Moorish shield (adarga)
Vienna, Austria
Kunsthistorisches Museum
About Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Hegira before 897 / AD before 1492
HJRK_C_195
Natural coloured calf leather, coloured silk embroidery
Height: 89cm, Width: 75cm
Nasrid
Spain
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.
Craftsmanship
Most likely Battle of Lucena in AD 1483 and from there through Philip I or Charles V to Austria
Castle Ambras inventory
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.
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
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