The Rüstkammer Inventory of 1606 contains the following entry on page 175: “A beautiful suit of armour of embossed metal, partly gilded, . . . worn by my gracious lord, Elector Christian (II), together with a pile helmet, back, breast, collar, spangerol, vambraces, gauntlets, . . . poleyns, complete greaves, chanfron, saddle armour and a pair of stirrups, purchased from an Augsburger for the Rüstkammer on 23 September 1602, and placed on the horse in 1603 . . . , including a black velvet skirt trimmed with gold trimmings, made in 1602.”
Made of hammered iron, greyed and covered with cast copper-gilt figures, this armour is still beautiful today. We see bunches of fruit with birds feeding off them, and where there is room for entire scenes, we see mounted warriors in antique armour engaged in combat. They are fighting with lances, swords and often sabres; but bows and arrows are also in evidence. We see lions fighting, animal masks, all sorts of monsters, and foliage at the edges, as well as very free scrollwork. It’s a typical renaissance decoration. It curls around the coats of arms, cartouches and medallions. On the sole of the armour’s left foot, the date 1599 is engraved into the ornamentation.
The date 1599 and the information that the armour was purchased from a source in Augsburg confirm its provenance as southern German, but they don’t tell us who made it. For many years, this precious armour was ascribed to the Augsburg craftsman, Desiderius Colman. The Mannerist profusion of decoration in a strictly organised composition suggests that it could have been made by the Colman family of armourers, whose last great master craftsman was indeed Desiderius. However he died in 1578, so he couldn’t have been the maker. Furthermore, there was no Colman school, as had been thought for many years. So we simply don’t know who created this splendid piece – nor even if it was a goldsmith or an armourer, a single master craftsman or the members of a workshop.
