An extremely rare South German jousting sallet, Rennhut, circa 1500.
The skull finely shaped and formed in one piece, with narrow sight, the lower edge of the sight projecting slightly forward of the upper edge, a medial ridge front and rear developing into a flattened low comb decorated with punched linear borders over the top, the comb retaining a single screw originally intended to hold a spring-catch locking a pair of "exploding" brow plates, with a pair of rivets projecting clear of the surface of the skull fitted on either side behind the sight and intended to engage small lugs at the sides of the brow plates, the skull pierced with a rectangular arrangement of four lace-holes on both side at the rear, a row of holes for lining rivets below an incised line encircling the sides and rear, additional holes for laces and a chin-strap, the lower edges to the rear of the sight with an angular outward turn, the frontal lower edge not turned and pierced for an additional external fitting, and with separate broad neck-guard of characteristic form, pierced with eight pairs of holes for lining rivets or laces, and fitted with later raised flanged border.
H. : 30.5 cm - L. : 37.5 cm - W. : 21 cm - Wt. : 3315 g.
Provenance : Sotheby's, London, October 14, 1975, lot 222.
The main object of the course known as the Rennen was to unhorse the opponent and points were also scored for breaking lances. Armour specifically designed for the differing forms of the Rennen was usually limited to a sallet, heavy bevor attached by bolts to the breast-plate, a heavy skirt with knee-length heavy tassets and a light-weight back-plate. The armour was usually worn without defences for the legs ; the left arm was defended by a fixed shield (Renntartsche), and the right arm and hand defended by a large vamplate fitted over the lower portion of the lance. A pair of wing-shaped plates were usually attached over the brow of the sallet and designed to fall off when struck by the opponent 's lance.
This type of sallet is extremely rare in private collections. An example with a separate tailpiece attached to the skull is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that of Ludwig II King of Hungary and Bohemia, attributed to Kolman Helmschmid of Augsburg, circa 1522-26 (1929, 29.156.45). The Musée de l'Armée in Paris formerly held a sallet of the same construction made circa 1515-16 by Lorenz Helmschmid of Augsburg (H51).
See, PYHRR, Stuart, European Armour from the Imperial Ottoman Arsenal, Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal, volume 24, 1989, pp. 102-103, 108, ill. 32-35 and 43.
For an account of the Rennen course and of the specialised armour used, see BLAIR, Claude, European Armour, 1958, pp. 162-163, pl. 57, fig. 115, 271, 282.
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Elements of armour for the joust, Rennzeug, partly finely reconstructed in the style of circa 1490, some elements almost certainly circa 1490-1500. Comprising bevor of characteristically heavy construction extending over the upper-part of the chest, drawn-up to cup the lower half of the face, attached to the breast-plate by a pair of bolts, the upper border pierced with a row of small stitch-holes, the upper edge with a Gothic outward turn across the middle and with bevelled lower edge, breast-plate prominently boxed on the right side, rounded over the left side, the right arm-opening with bevelled edge, the openings at the left arm and at the neck each with a Gothic outward turn, the shoulders terminating in integral hinges for the attachment of the back-plate hasps, pierced for the attachment of a targe on the left, fitted with lance-rest on the right, waist-lame of characteristic type with cusped bevelled upper edge and attached centrally by a single bolt, decorated with punched bands encircling the waist, carrying an associated composite articulated skirt (or fauld) of five heavy upwardoverlapping lames, the third lower lame with internal alterations, taken from a related armour, and the foremost skirt lame apparently homogeneous with a pair of large gutter-shaped jousting tassets attached internally by split pins, the tassets almost certainly circa 1490-1500: sold together with a tail-piece from a jousting back-plate of circa 1490, of four tapering lames embossed with a fan of four flutes. The main elements on a detachable wall-mounted bracket with provision for displaying a helmet. H.: 99 cm. (See Important Notice p. 53) Provenance: The jousting tassets and the skirt (or fauld), together with the detached tail-piece, all included in the sale of Works of Art from The Royal House of Hanover, Sotheby's, Schloss Marienburg, 5th to 15th October 2005, included among the lots which were additional to the published catalogues. The tassets compare closely with a pair on a Rennzeug attributed to Wilhelm von Worms, Nuremberg, circa 1498, preserved in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Inv.: Nr. W 1309). See the exhibition catalogue "Ritterwelten im Spätmittelalter", Landshut 2009, No. 20a, ill. p. 211.
