Parrying Gauntlet
1550/1575
- Medium
- Steel, iron, linen textile, and leather
- Classification
- Armor
- Dimensions
- H.: 44.5 cm (17 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
- Credit line
- George F. Harding Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
In rapier combat, various techniques called for left-handed daggers, shields, or bucklers to parry (ward off) or bind an opponent’s blade. Another such device that became popular among fencing masters and duelists was the fencing gauntlet.
Unlike gauntlets used in field armor, fencing gauntlets featured palms that were covered in fine mail, a mesh of steel rings that permitted the wearer to push aside or grab his attacker’s sword blade. Dents and cuts on the cuff of this example indicate that it was indeed used.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
