Cabasset supplementary to the armor of Adolf von Schwarzenberg Milan, Pompeo della Cesa, ca. 1590. PHILIPPE MISSILLIER COLLECTION, Giquello Auction House, Drouot - rooms 5-6, March 6th & 7th, 2025.

PHILIPPE MISSILLIER COLLECTION
EARLY PERIOD – BOOKS – 17TH-CENTURY FIREARMS
HUNTING ART – PHALERISTICS
18TH AND 19TH-CENTURY WEAPONS – RUSSIAN ART
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
AFRICA AND OCEANIA – FAR EAST
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 2:00 PM
ISLAMIC AND INDIAN ART
Drouot - rooms 5-6

EXHIBITION
Tuesday, March 4 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Wednesday, March 5 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Thursday, March 6 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Phone during the exhibition +33(0)1 48 00 20 05

GIQUELLO
Alexandre Giquello
Violette Stcherbatcheff
5, rue La Boétie - 75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 47 42 78 01 - info@giquello.net
Subject to approval
n°2002 389

CONTACT
Claire Richon
+33(0)1 47 70 48 00
c.richon@giquello.net

SPECIALIST
Marina Viallon
+33 (0)6 72 42 57 24
marina.viallon@yahoo.fr

Lot n° 68 (from the sale)
Additional cabasset for the armor of Adolf von Schwarzenberg
Milan, Pompeo della Cesa, c. 1590

Additional cabasset for the armor of Adolf von Schwarzenberg
Milan, Pompeo della Cesa, c. 1590
H. 21 cm – W. 24 cm
243 CH
€40,000/€60,000

Additional cabasset for the armor of Adolf von Schwarzenberg, with a slightly ovoid top, featuring a central ridge culminating in a curved point towards the back. The acid-etched decoration consists of radiating bands from the top, alternating between garlands of gilded weapons on a black background and black interlaces on a gold background, surmounting medallions depicting male and female figures dressed in antique attire. Among them, an allegory of Prudence with her snake and mirror (at the front of the helmet), two Trumpets with their trumpets, as well as warriors brandishing palms or laurel crowns can be recognized. The base of the top and the edges of the cabasset are adorned with a succession of bands featuring vegetal and geometric motifs, also in black and gold. At the back, a brass cartridge-shaped plume holder with punched geometric motifs is attached. Large brass rivets in the shape of flowers at the base of the top, and other iron rivets, with their heads originally covered in brass near the edges, secure an internal lining made of four pieces of fine brown leather stitched together, pierced with a series of holes at the top for a lace (lost) used for fitting on the wearer's head. It is old but not original. The traditional articulated cheek-pieces closed by a strap under the chin are missing.

The high quality of the decoration of this piece allows it to be compared to the war armor made by the renowned workshop of Pompeo della Cesa in Milan for the imperial general Adolf von Schwarzenberg (1551-1600), now preserved in the imperial armory of Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer, A 1708). This cabasset, replacing the cavalry armet on display in Vienna, allowed the harness to be used as infantry armor. After a military career in the service of Philip II of Spain, Schwarzenberg obtained positions as a private advisor to the Elector of Cologne, marshal of the Prince-Bishop of Liège, as well as governor, general, and Landhofmeister of the Diocese of Cologne. He distinguished himself particularly in the Imperial army during the war against the Turks in Hungary (1593-1606), and for this, in 1599, he was granted the title of Imperial Count (Reichgraf). He was killed in 1600 in Pápa (Hungary) during the repression of a mutiny by French and Walloon mercenaries who held the fortress in service of the Habsburgs. A similar cabasset by Pompeo della Cesa, with a slightly different organization of the decoration, is preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. 1982.2229).
Good condition, light wear of the gilt, missing trim rivet on the front edge, missing brass plating on most border rivets.