Lucio Piccinino (Italian, active 1575-1595)
Milan
Gauntlet for the Left Hand
INV-1164
Lucio Piccinino (Italian, active 1575-1595)
Milan1575/90
Gauntlet for the Left Hand
Lucio Piccinino (Italian, active 1575-1595) Milan →suit-gauntletarmor
Date
1575/90
Medium
Steel, gold, silver, and brass
Dimensions
16.5 × 14.6 × 19.7 cm (6 1/2 × 5 3/4 × 7 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
George F. Harding Collection
Intended purely for spectacle, parade armor represented the pinnacle of the armorer’s art. This fragmentary gauntlet for the right hand was part of such a harness. The workshop of Lucio Piccinino produced several similar commissions for various dukes and princes of the Habsburg court. The work of several craftsmen, this gauntlet merges the arts of armoring and goldsmithing. Here the technique of gold-and-silver overlay is combined with embossing—pushing the thin steel from both inside and out. With its riot of classical ornament, including grotesque figures, fruit garlands, and trophies of arms, the decoration reflects the prevailing artistic taste, known as Mannerism, at the end of the 16th century.