Dear friends, when last we convened, you were kind enough to read “What's up with the Warren? or Sumerian votive figures, patrons, and my thing about rabbits,” in which I detailed the inspirations for my rabbit votive figures.
This week, I am forging ahead with a new body of work! I am at perhaps the most critical stage of this process; that is, research and references.
Now, while that sounds about as exciting as a rainy Tuesday, let me assure you, dear reader, that it could not be farther from the truth!
Imagine yourself astride a painted white horse with a silver mane. It is late afternoon, and the sun, slanting through the leaves of the broad oak trees, gathers with the dark in dappled pools. To your left, a boisterous crowd, clad in purple and yellow sashes, gasps and falls silent. Sweat races down your forehead, but it is impossible to wipe it away without gouging your eyes out. Your hands are iron wrapped claws, strapped to shield and lance. Your body, your horse, your mind are just the meat of an impossible machine you must hurl forward. The sweat stings your eyes, and the world falls back into a sea of colors- green, purple, yellow and then… red. He has arrived. You look down to the back of your shield for the last time to Saint Christopher, protector of those about to die a violent death, and whisper a prayer. Horns! The Red Rider lowers his lance. The joust has begun.
Such was the story I heard from a 15th century German shield I came across while perusing the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website. I am beginning a new series of ceramic shields, and am interested in the way armor simultaneously protects and asserts one’s identity. I also wanted to know more about how shields were carried, how they attached to the body, and how they looked when they were not in use.
This intriguing “targe” is one of “The Seven Shields of Behaim,” made to protect the body against the force of a lance during a joust. It has a concave shape, designed to accommodate the torso while on horseback. In the top left quadrant, a space has been cut out to fit the rider’s lance. This space, known as the “bouche,” (a French word for “mouth”) was on the rider’s right side. The body of the shield is made of wood and leather.
On the front of the shield, there is a young woman in green, posing with a rearing black goat. The goat’s hooves float to the right of the young woman’s face- the lower half of its body dissolves into yellow and black stylized flowers. In the foreground there is a yellow shield, adorned with the image of the top half of the rearing black goat. On the green lady’s right side is a scroll, inscribed with “HAB MYCH ALS ICH BIN,” German, for “Take me as I am.” There is evidence of additional words, possibly referring a motto at the time, “Take me as I am, thou false world.”
Shields such as this were decorated with a family’s coat of arms, mottoes, and other meaningful symbols. Interestingly, the shield of the vanquished jouster was sometimes relinquished to the victor. When this happened, the new owner of the shield would either add their own coat of arms and symbols to the existing design, or even partially or completely cover the earlier painting. In this way, the shield became of record of the families involved in the tournaments. As tournaments fell out of style, the shields, with their many layers of paint, were revered as emblems of a family’s standing within a community. They were retired and hung flat upon walls and on ceilings.
I wanted to make my own set of shields as a way to explore my identity, especially in relation to the I was raised in, and the cultural expectations I served. My previous work with the votive rabbits touches upon this concept, but in a quiet and introspective way. The votive rabbit sculptures are all shown with arms protecting their sacred space: the best part of who they are. In this new series of shields, I am recalling my own battles with a larger world.
It was inspiring to read the scroll upon the 15th century targe, “Take me as I am.” As usual, I find that artists before me have encountered problems not unlike the ones I deal with today. I especially appreciate the sentiment behind this motto. I can imagine the person who lived by it to be rather forthright- pragmatic, but at the the same time putting the world on notice that they will not be swayed by its demands. The meaning of the motto fits perfectly with the function of the shield to both protect and assert the rider’s identity.
The images on the shield itself seem to assert this idea as well. In a rather “meta” way, the goat depicted on the shield next to the green lady, is then also depicted on the yellow shield in front of her. The artist has placed the top goat on equal, if not superior, placement to the woman in the frame. By placing the same image upon the yellow shield, the artist is letting us know that the identity of the family is a strength.
So why make a series of defensive weapons out of clay? Clay shields would surely shatter upon the first strike of any lance. However, I like this idea of the fragile nature of our identities. We build them up, only to have them be broken. And they probably should be broken. Challenges to who we believe we are help us to evolve (hopefully) into better people. Like the painted shield that bears the marks of each successive battle, we are essentially the same form, but continuously remade by our experiences.
I have the first shield nearly finished, and am planning about eight or so more. If you find the ideas behind the targe fascinating, as I do, you can read more about it in Helmut Nickel’s article, "The Seven Shields of Behaim: New Evidence": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 30 (1995). (Click here for a link to the Museum’s website, where you can download the article.) Nickel also details the challenges of restoring the shields. On a shield that has been painted many times over, with each successive layer representing an important historical period, which layer should be kept, and presented to the public as “restored?” The art restorers were faced with many thought-provoking (and sometimes maddening) choices!
