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Sabre of the Elector Augustus of Saxony
Ulrich Jahnc. 1570-80
Renaissance and Reformation. German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach
This saber with imposing lions’ heads in chiseled iron was a gift from the Electress Anne to her spouse, Augustus. The hunter on the handle and other hunting motifs indicate this saber was intended for stag hunting. Mercury—on the slide of the scabbard—alludes to Augustus’s role as a supporter of business. At a masquerade accompanying the riding at the ring in Dresden in 1574, the elector himself had appeared in the role of Mercury.
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Details
- Title: Sabre of the Elector Augustus of Saxony
- Creator: Ulrich Jahn
- Date Created: c. 1570-80
- Physical Dimensions: L: 82.9 cm, L (blade): 68.4 cm, Wt: 1,684 g, L (sheath): 67.8 cm, Wt: 473 g, L (belt): 123 cm, W: 1,27 cm, Wt: 39 g
- Technique and Material: Curved single-edged blade, double-edged at the tip, etched at the base; hilt: iron, chiseled, partially openwork, blued, gold damascening; scabbard: wood; lining: cotton velvet, black (replaced); mouthpiece and chape: iron, blued, gold damascening; belt: leather, silk velvet, black; mounts: iron, blued, gold damascening
- Provenance: First mentioned in the complete inventory of the Rüstkammer in 1606
- Museum: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Rüstkammer
- Inv.-No.: VI 377; XI 216
- ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-845714
- External Link: http://www.skd.museum/de/museen-institutionen/residenzschloss/ruestkammer/
- Copyright: Photo © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Rüstkammer/ Jürgen Karpinski; Text © Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach, A Cooperation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nov 20, 2016 – March 26, 2017, Munich: Prestel, 2016; cat. no. 57 / Jutta Charlotte von Bloh
- Catalogue: https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/Renaissance-and-Reformation/Stephanie-Buck/Prestel-com/e504919.rhd
- Artist Dates: active in Saxony c. 1570–80
- Artist Biography: The cutler Ulrich Jahn of Annaberg, a center for silver mining, worked for Elector Augustus of Saxony from 1570 to 1580.
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