Closed Sallet with Grotesque Face (Schembart visor)
Unknown Artist
c. 1500
Medium
painted steel
Dimensions
27.3 × 25.7 × 22.2 cm
Classification
Arms and Armor
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance
Accession Number
1916.1646
About this artwork
A small number of similar painted helmets survive today. All appear to date to the early 1500s. The visors of these helmets are usually in the form of fiercely grimacing human or animal faces, known as Schembart visors after the masked revelers in the Schembartlaufen, the medieval Shrovetide parades. The city of Nuremberg was particularly famous for its Shrovetide parades that were often held in conjunction with a tournament in which the younger members of the city's patrician families, presumab...