ChristianSchreinerthe Younger Austrian(Miihlau),recorded 1499-1528 Elements of a Light-Cavalry Armor Austrian(Innsbruck/Miihlau),about 1505-10 Steel Height (as mounted), z8 in. (71.1 cm) Purchase,Mr. and Mrs. ArthurOchs SulzbergerGift, in honor of Helmut Nickel, 199 I 1991.4
A strong Italian influence is apparent in our armor and in works of the Innsbruck/Miihlau school in general. This Italian influence is characterizedby full, rounded forms and sparing use of surface ornament, as opposed to the German Gothic style, typified by slender proportions and pierced openwork ornament. Two of the features originating in the Innsbruck/ Muiihlauschool around 1490 that can be seen on our armor are the fauld and short tassets (pelvic and hip defenses), made of continuous, overlapping lames, and the tripartite construction of the backplate. Particularlydistinctive are the graceful yet bold mitten gauntlets, the design of which merges Late Gothic features with the evolving German Renaissance style. DJL
This armor is a rare example of the fluted, or Maximilian, style in its earliest stages. The armor was made either in Muiihlauor in neighboring Innsbruckaround the time that Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519)
established his court
armor workshop in Innsbruckin 1504. Little is known of its maker, Christian Schreinerthe Younger,but he may have come from Miihlau to work for the emperor in Innsbruck, as did many other armorersof his generation.Although Schreiner's documented activity spans nearly thirty years, only two of his works survive, of which this armor is the most complete.
Related references:Oswald Graf Trapp and James G. Mann, The Armoury of the Castle of Churburg,London, 19Z9, pp. i io- iI, no. 72, pl. XLVI;Bruno Thomas and Ortwin Gamber, Die Innsbrucker Plattnerkunst (exhib. cat.), Innsbruck,Tiroler LandesmuseumFerdinandium, 1954, pp. 31, 6z, no. 46; lan D. D. Eaves and Thom
Richardson,"TheTreytzArmourof Gaudenzvon Matschat Schloss Churburg,"Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, 13, Supplement (September 1990), p. I .
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