Othic equestrian sabatons – Germany, 1490

Sabatons are armoured footwear worn as part of a complete suit of amour. In the Gothic period, the fashion for pointy-toed shoes influenced the shape of the military sabaton.

‡ A PAIR OF SABATONS IN THE GERMAN ~GOTHIC~ STYLE OF THE LATE 15TH CENTURY, LATE 19TH CENTURY

each formed of a front and a rear section joined to one another by a hinge at the inside and fastened by a stud and hole at the outside, the two elements cut away at their junction at each side to clear the undersides of the ankle-bones, and the front section formed of a main plate fitted at its front with ten backward-overlapping lames shaped to the top of the foot, terminating in a pointed toe-cap fitted with a turning pin for attaching an acutely pointed extension toe-cap, each curling slightly towards its terminal, the heels fitted with long spurs having six-pointed star-shaped rowels, and in aged condition throughout 68.5 cm; 27 in long (2) Provenance Sixth Count of Asalto, Guadamur Castle, near Toledo, circa 1887 Ambrose Monell, Tuxedo Park, New York, before 1911 Henry Furmage, London George F. Harding Jr, Chicago, purchased 1927 Transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1982, Acc. Nos. 2406