A Rare Ottoman Wicker Shield (Kalkan), Turkey, 17th Century

Philippe Missillier Collection no.74C

Although wicker shields were used across the Islamic world, the most famous examples were used by Ottoman soldiers during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Such shields are primarily known through examples in the ‘Türkenbeute’, taken after battles against Ottoman troops, and survive in several Central European museum collections, originating from the dynastic collections of families who fought against the Turks (e.g., Ernst Petrasch et al., Die Karlsruher Türkenbeute: die ‘Türkische Kammer’ des Markgrafen Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden: die 'Türkische Curiositäten' der Markgrafen von Baden-Durlach, Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, München, 1991, pp.173-4).

A particularly closely comparable wicker shield is now in the National Museum of Denmark (inv. no.Mb 44), with which the present shield shares a red field bordered by two yellow guards, and the use of evenly spaced floral motifs (Kjeld von Folsach et al., Fighting, Hunting, Impressing: Arms and Armour from the Islamic World 1500-1850, Copenhagen: The David Collection, p.173). That shield is first recorded in a 1674 inventory and so predates the famous battles at Vienna and Mohács in 1683 and 1687. The motif of ‘God’ inscribed repeatedly using silver-thread is also seen on a shield in the David Collection (inv. no.23/2018, Kjeld von Folsach et al. 2021, p.174-5).

Comparable wicker shields were sold in these rooms, 25 April 2012, lot 167, and 8 October 2008, lot 236.