Item ref: 3092
Hollingworth Magniac Collection, sold Christie, Manson and Woods, 2 July 1892, lot 745
Edwin Brett Collection, sold Christie, Manson and Woods, 18 - 21 and 26 March 1895, lot 446
Private collection, Europe
Private collection, USA
The shape of this shaffron and the distinctive styling of its upper and lower terminal points suggests a manufacturing date close to 1600. In all of these respects this example compares with a shaffron in the Wallace Collection, London (A 355).
The etched bands of trophies of armour and weapons are characteristic of the Italian armour workshops of both Milan and Brescia; the surviving gilding, intended to give brilliance to the etched decoration, gives an impression of the original splendour of the full armour for which this shaffron was worn in matching accompaniment.