Many armors from the 16th century survive, complete or near complete, but few are as resplendent as the works of eminent armor, Kunz Lochner. Born in 1510 in Nuremberg, the young Kunz was the son of an already well respected armorer whose name he shared. By 1543, the young Master Kunz would find himself in the employ of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I (r. 1556-1564), and would become the court armorer of Ferdinand’s successor Maximilian II (r. 1574-1576).
For Ferdinand, Lochner made this fabulous parade armor. Etched across the breastplate with the madonna and child, a common motif in German armors of the period, the backplate also sports the crossed staves and firesteel which marks the wearer as a member of the illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece. The helmet, though not original to the armor, has been associated with it since at least the 19th century.
For Ferdinand’s eventual successor, the future Emperor Maximilian II, there survives a near wholly complete armor, along with several other elements of the garniture, which Lochner made about 1546. This armor is not only elegantly etched, but also tastefully gilded with a pattern that repeats on all the surviving elements. Three helmets belonging to this garniture survive, a closed burgonet and two close helmets. One close helmet bears an articulated steel bib, typical of Italian styles of armor, while the other is fitted with a rotary cuff designed to integrate directly to the armor’s gorget, typical of the German design. An associated vamplate, the piece which would affix to a lance, also survives.
Also among Lochner’s German clientele were wealthy lords, such as the Duke of Saxony. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City there sits a pair of associated armors both marked 1548, one made for horse, the other for man. Etching on the peytral of the horse armor marks it as having been made for Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxony, and the associated armor for man, similarly etched, was formerly part of an extensive garniture, of which little survives. Even the breastplate and gauntlets on this beautiful armor are later restorations.
Lochner’s reputation, however, extended well beyond the bounds of the German states. He attracted the attention of other high profile clientele to the East, including Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden (r. 1523-1560). One complete armor which Lochner made for Vasa ca. 1540 survives in the Livrustkammaren, Stockholm. Very much in the German style, the etching and gilding on this armor recall Lochner’s previous works, while the delicately embossed floral patterns provide a new, and unique twist.
Also at the Livrustkammaren, Gustav Vasa’s crowned helmet (of an armet construction) survives as well. This piece, which is also attributed to Lochner, is one of the very few and very rare crowned helmets to survive.
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Perhaps one of Lochner’s most extravagant works, matching armors for man and horse, are also preserved at the Livrustkammaren. Made for Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland (r. 1548-1572), no inch of this armor is left undecorated. Its every surface is criss-crossed with astoundingly intricate engraving work, which has then been gilded, painted white, or filled in with black enamel.
Even more astonishing than his work for the King of Poland is the armor (c. 1555) Lochner made for Mikolaij “the Black” Radziwill, Grand Marshall of Lithuania (d. 1565). Few elements of this garniture survive, scattered across the world, but what remains is a true testament to Lochner’s skill as a master armorer.
Decorated much like the armor of Sigismund II, the armor of Mikolaij the Black incorporates both red and black enamel to offset the white background and dazzling gilded edges. Elements of the bard that accompanied this armor are preserved at the Met in New York: a shaffron and a crinet plate, as well as a vamplate, a pauldron, and tassets for the armor for the man. In Paris, at the Musee de l’Armee, another piece of the garniture remains: a jousting helmet designed for the German style scharfrennen. In its working life, this armor, fully encompassing both horse and rider, must have proven a dazzling display of the owner’s wealth and power.
This armor, which according to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna was acquired in 1581, where it became confused with an armor which belonged to Mikolaij the Black’s son, Mikolaij Krzysztof Radziwill. There, the two became confused, and switched, the blackened armor of Mikolaij Krzysztof becoming attached to the name of Mikolaij the Black, while Mikolaij the Black’s colorful armor became attributed to Mikolaij Krzysztof.
