Armour on wooden figure
Details
Augsburg or Nuremberg, c. 1550
Steel, partly gilded, wood, polychromed
H. 179 cm
Acquired from the parochial administration Peterskirchen, district of Rottal-Inn, in 1904
Inv. No. W 4752
Gallery 18
Arms and Armour
Renaissance
Description
Suits of armour dressed on wooden figures from the 16th century are extremely rare and only known to exist in a few churches and old armouries. For centuries, this wooden figure dressed in armour stood like a silent guard in the parish church of Peterskirchen near Dietersburg in Lower Bavaria. Hans Christoph von Pienzenau (d. 1577) probably donated the armour as a votive offering to the church in which his family had a burial site. The style of the beard corresponds to the fashion in the middle of the 16th century. The armour's modest décor of broad gilded ornamental bands is typical of southern German armour of that time.
