Pair of Rowel Spurs

Unknown

ca. 1350 · Copper alloy, enamel, gold, glass, glass paste · Arms and Armor

This very decorative pair of spurs was probably used during parades or other ceremonial purposes.Their pierced decoration consists of alternated trefoils and quatrefoils. On the external side of the left spur, a rosette bears an enameled shield bearing the arms of an unidentified family (the rosette is missing on the right spur). Each rowel is adorned with a glass cabochon in its center. This pair of spurs was said to have belonged to a member of the French family de Goth (Or, 3 fasces Gules), but this shield actually bears a border Gules (red) that does not match with this identification. Its so-said provenance from a tomb of the now demolished collegiate church of Villandraut, France, unfortunately cannot be proved. The decoration of these spurs is also close to 14th-century Italian examples.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1350

Medium

Copper alloy, enamel, gold, glass, glass paste

Culture

French or Italian

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Gift of Amory S. Carhart, in memory of his father, Amory S. Carhart, 1926