DOI Heft:
No. 2-3
DOI Artikel:Żygulski, Zdzisław; Rembrandt; Rembrandt [Ill.]: Rembrandt's "Lisowczyk": a study of costume and weapons
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17160#0074
32. „Lisowczyk", fragment of the picture witli the buntchuk
These boots, pointed and heeled, with or without spurs, always surprised foreigners observing
Polish noblemen coming with embassies or touring.
Now we approacli the examination of the rider's arms. "With the left band he holds thc bridle
and with the right the war hammer. Its head consists of the hammer itself of scjuare section
with dentated face and strong low-sided beak on the reverse side. Its round wooden haft projects
beyond the head at the top and is finished top and bottom with a steel cap. This type of hammer
(used in antiąuity by the Scythians) was popular in the late Middle Ages in the East as well as in
the West. It was uscful for breaking open plate armour (fig. 25). Many actual specimens of war
hammers survive in different armouries and they can be easily differentiated into Eastern and
Western groups30. We must admit that the Polish and Hungarian types of war hammers were
very similar; nevertheless they are sometimes distinguishable by the specific „national" styles
of tiny ornaments applied on the metal mountings of the haft. In Poland they were used as a sign
of officer's rank, as well as the maces called „buzdygan". The gesture of the Lisowczyk exposing
the hammer to the spectator seems to confirm the opinion that he was an officer.
Two sabres constitute the chief offensive arms of the Lisoioczyk, their analysis being difficult
as they are painted only in fragments. The sabre on the left side hangs frorn the belt (possibly
from the metal belt under the silk sash) and only the hilt is visible. However, this hilt may reveal
the whole character of the weapon. It is curved forward, bound with black leather, with three
rivets, and a metal cap at thc top. Its straight steel tpiillons is button ended, the escutcheon exten-
ding over both grip and blade. This type of sabrc hilt has a vcry long genealogy, bcing shown
in the Persian miniatures as early as the XIV and XV centuries; its origin surely goes back to
the earlier Mongolian types31. Sabres willi such lii] ts were used in Turkey in the XV and XVI
30. Sec: W. Dziewanowski, Zarys dziejów uzbrojenia w Polsce, Warszawa, 1935, p. 90.
31. Similar sabrc hilts of the XIV century were rccently published by A. R. Zaki, „Islamie swords in Middle Ages", Bulleii.i
de rinstitut d'Egyple, 36, Le Caire, 1955 pp. 365 — 379, pl. VI and VII; see also: J. Kalmar, A Magyar Kard Miizeszetc,
Budapest, 1938.
64
These boots, pointed and heeled, with or without spurs, always surprised foreigners observing
Polish noblemen coming with embassies or touring.
Now we approacli the examination of the rider's arms. "With the left band he holds thc bridle
and with the right the war hammer. Its head consists of the hammer itself of scjuare section
with dentated face and strong low-sided beak on the reverse side. Its round wooden haft projects
beyond the head at the top and is finished top and bottom with a steel cap. This type of hammer
(used in antiąuity by the Scythians) was popular in the late Middle Ages in the East as well as in
the West. It was uscful for breaking open plate armour (fig. 25). Many actual specimens of war
hammers survive in different armouries and they can be easily differentiated into Eastern and
Western groups30. We must admit that the Polish and Hungarian types of war hammers were
very similar; nevertheless they are sometimes distinguishable by the specific „national" styles
of tiny ornaments applied on the metal mountings of the haft. In Poland they were used as a sign
of officer's rank, as well as the maces called „buzdygan". The gesture of the Lisowczyk exposing
the hammer to the spectator seems to confirm the opinion that he was an officer.
Two sabres constitute the chief offensive arms of the Lisoioczyk, their analysis being difficult
as they are painted only in fragments. The sabre on the left side hangs frorn the belt (possibly
from the metal belt under the silk sash) and only the hilt is visible. However, this hilt may reveal
the whole character of the weapon. It is curved forward, bound with black leather, with three
rivets, and a metal cap at thc top. Its straight steel tpiillons is button ended, the escutcheon exten-
ding over both grip and blade. This type of sabrc hilt has a vcry long genealogy, bcing shown
in the Persian miniatures as early as the XIV and XV centuries; its origin surely goes back to
the earlier Mongolian types31. Sabres willi such lii] ts were used in Turkey in the XV and XVI
30. Sec: W. Dziewanowski, Zarys dziejów uzbrojenia w Polsce, Warszawa, 1935, p. 90.
31. Similar sabrc hilts of the XIV century were rccently published by A. R. Zaki, „Islamie swords in Middle Ages", Bulleii.i
de rinstitut d'Egyple, 36, Le Caire, 1955 pp. 365 — 379, pl. VI and VII; see also: J. Kalmar, A Magyar Kard Miizeszetc,
Budapest, 1938.
64