Page 176 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

The shield consists of two ovals of thick hide passed into the Archduke's collection at Ambras and so effective that a saber would rebound or
stitched together, its middle axis strengthened by requires further research. It is generally pre- stick so hard that it could not be freed. They were
an attached bar. The light, originally white outer- sumed that it entered the armory of the Austrian light yet solid and if hit, the arrow holes tended to
side is almost free from decoration and the eight Hapsburgs through the son-in-law of the Reyes close up by themselves (Encyclopedia of Islam
embedded lines along the edge serve more as Catolicos, Philip i of Austria, King of Castile and 1986, "Lamt," 651-652).
reinforcements than as decoration. Interwoven Granada (1478—1506). However, it is equally pos- The Muslim nobility used adarga such as
tasseled strap ends for the handle bindings are sible that it was included in a gift of ten objects this richly embroidered example for parade and
missing. The entire inner surface was originally from "New Spain" presented in 1524 by the combat games on horseback (furusiyyah). In
dyed red but is now bleached brown and decorated Emperor Charles v (1500-1558) to his brother the late fifteenth century the adarga and richly
with finely worked silk embroidery in red, blue, Archduke Ferdinand i (1503-1564)^66811990, 7). decorated swords of the Boabdil type (cat. 56)
yellow, green, black, and white. The design As early as the tenth century there is mention of (Bruhn de Hoffmeyer 1982, 279) were favored by
divides the surface into four concentric bands a sahib adarca (inspector of adarga) in Cordoba the Christian nobility, and the fashion spread
which follow the shape of the shield. The remain- (Madrid 1898,161) but the earliest pictoral repre- from Spain to France, Italy, and even to England.
ing fields are determined by the trapezoidal sentations of such shields are to be found among Several artists, including Hans Memling and
slightly off centered cushioned handles which the magnificent miniatures of the "Cantigas de Martin Schongauer, depicted individuals carrying
are also richly embellished. The densely worked Santa Maria" made for King Alfonso x of Castile adarga to lend an exotic flair to religious depic-
m
design contains arabesques, stars, and flowers. (1221-1284) which Muslim warriors are tions (Nickel 1958, 98, n. 182; Buttin 1960, 407).
Abstract trilobate lilies and plaited lines on the depicted protecting themselves with heart shaped The use of such a shield by Hernan Cortes (1519-
outer border are juxtaposed against an Arabic adargas. During the fourteenth century, the form 1523) and his conquistadors to conquer the Aztecs
inscription in a stylized Kufic script. Inscribed on of the adarga changed from a simple heart shape has also been documented (Nickel 1958). Accord-
the second concentric band is ''Allah" in stylized to two ellipses with the longer sides overlapping. ing to the comments "x de iste fassesson" in the
Kufic script, while the cartouche at the top of the Such shields were introduced into Spain by the pictoral inventory of Charles v (Inventario Illumi-
handle repeats 'Allah the Living One" three Muslims. The word adarga comes from the Arabic nado), the Emperor owned ten adarga (Buttin
times. al-daraq which is also the origin of the English 1960, 447) and until the devastating fire of 1884
Only one other adarga of this quality nd from word targe and the French adargne. Islamic there were 40 in the Real Armeria in Madrid.
this period has been preserved (Real Armeria, accounts of the Middle Ages mention that North Most, including those remaining (087-095, 097-
Madrid. The Vienna adarga is recorded in the Africa was famous for shields made from the skin 0106), are late Spanish works sometimes deco-
1596 inventory of Ferdinand n of Tyrol (1529- of the Lamt (the orynx of the Sahara) and that rated on the inside with feathers, such as one
1595) at Schloss Ambras (RK Ambras, Reg 5556 these were made by a Berber tribe, also called made for Philip n (088). Indeed, the adarga con-
fol. 346v) which reads "Ain Tiirggische tartsche, Lamt, whose menfolk like the Toureg wore the tinued to be used by the nobility in Spain for
auswendig von weiszen, innwendig von rottem veil. The ninth century geographer Ya'qiibi notes combat games—the "juejos de caras" and "alan-
leder, darauf von allerlei gefarbten seiden Tiirg- that these shields which were exported to Spain cias"—until the i8th century (Boeheim 1890,
gische buechstaben gestuckht, samt seinem were white in color—just as the Vienna shield 183; Madrid 1898,161). C.B-S.
fuetral" (Boeheim 1888, 279). Exactly how it originally was. They were said to be cured in milk

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 175