Fine German Mail Shirt - XVI Cent.

[RogerFox]

Hello everybody. I would like to share another example of a European mail shirt. An excellent example to tell the truth.

This charming mail shirt is almost certainly (always better to leave some doubt) a product of the excellent German production school, from Nuremberg or surrounding areas, probably around early XVI cent.

There are no maker marks, as in some museum shirt, but the visual comparison with those certified pieces demonstrates how the rings have the same construction and aesthetic characteristics. The same drawing lines, the same general shape of the rings, the same type of overlap with a very marked "watershed" effect (typical of the Nuremberg school) and wedge rivets. (We can see all this in the third photo).

The rings are rather small, approximately 6.7mm in external diameter (probable sign that the creation dates back to the 16th century), smaller than the links marked Nuremberg present at the Met or the Wallace Collection, which have an external diameter of 9/10mm. This makes this shirt a particularly high-quality product.

I would define the current size of the shirt as an M, and during the cleaning, I clearly saw signs of intervention that make me think of a readjustment for a person smaller than the original owner (perhaps a younger son).

If you look at it carefully in its entirety, I would say that the appearance of a "common shirt" is evident, rather than of a hauberk or short tunic... this makes me think that an object like this could easily be worn under or between normal clothes, perhaps by someone wealthy or noble (given the production cost of such a piece), even the weight pushes me to think of "everyday" use, given that it is a bit over 4 kg.

The collar made of even smaller rings (all wedge riveted too and XVI cent.) is a separate add to the shirt. Probably for period aesthetics reason.

The opening on the front is doubtful and almost certainly later to the original manufacture, because it has a 3-4cm wide strip of rings made up of rings different from the adjacent ones. Another sign that suggests a re-adaptation intervention (even aesthetic).

It is likely that at the end of its "career", it was somehow displayed or mounted on a mannequin by some 19th century curator or collector, given the presence of the typical split rings produced in Europe/UK during that era.

Clearly these are all personal deductions and interpretations, obtained by putting together the various information gathered from my experience and from comparison with other pieces.Thats all for now, hope you enjoy this beauty like i do.

[fernando]

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