Collection record · Objects & craft
Parade Spear
The collection record classifies this work as arms and armor. It is dated c. 1570–1600. Recorded culture or place: Germany, possibly Augsburg.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Parade Spear
- Date
- c. 1570–1600
- Culture / origin
- Germany, possibly Augsburg
- Materials and technique
- steel, etched; brass lugs; hexagonal wood haft with leather straps; woolen tassel
- Dimensions
- Overall: 208.2 cm (81 15/16 in.); Blade: 29.5 cm (11 5/8 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1916.1789
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This weapon is etched with the imperial Habsburg arms on one face and the Burgundian stave cross of St. Andrew on the other. In the 1500s, parade spears of this type became part of the insignia of infantry and light cavalry officers in the imperial army. In 1548 Titian painted an equestrian portrait of Emperor Charles V holding such a spear. At his abdication in 1556, Charles split the Habsburg inheritance between his son, Philip II of Spain, who was awarded control of Burgundy, and his brother, Frederick, who received the imperial title and the family's central European lands. This spear probably belongs to this later period and its purpose was likely ceremonial.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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