Re: Lombardische Trieste

31
Huck wrote:
Image


That's from the Schäufelein-deck ca. 1535. But it was a general motif, probably referring to a proverb.
It refers to a legend that the Ostrich eats iron:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo322.html

In heraldry it is common to make the iron a horseshoe:

quote:
On a helm with a wreath Or and gules an ostrich argent, holding in its beak a horse shoe Or.

Motto: Ferré va Ferme

The horse shoes are a pun on the name Ferrar – since a farrier is one who shoes horses.

The crest shows an ostrich holding a horse shoe. Legend has it that the ostrich eats iron (in Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part II Jack Cade threatens to ‘make thee eat iron like an ostrich’), and in heraldry this is frequently in the form of a horse shoe.

The motto, a further pun on ‘Ferrar’ and on the horse shoes, is usually translated as ‘The shod horse goes surely’.
end quote:
http://www.kershaw.org.uk/littlegidding ... indow.html

According to this medieval bestiary "A bird that can digest anything, even iron, but is careless of its eggs":
http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast238.htm

"During the 17th century, the ostrich became a popular symbol of gluttony and was often pictured eating iron":
http://users.netnitco.net/~legend01/ostrich.htm

There are extent images of the motif from the 12th century on, was particularly popular in French bestiaries.


Here is a marvellous ostrich egg goblet with a horseshoe eating ostrich:

"This piece is a typical object of the Kunst-und Wunderkammer (Art and Curiosities Chamber) because of the combination of natural material and noble gold work. Over the fragmented base is a moor leading a leashed ostrich carrying its own egg. Furthermore it carries a horseshoe in its beak, already in the 16th century considered a symbol for good luck. The motif of the iron eating ostrich comes from antiquity and symbolizes "strength through resistance because the bird has such strength that it can digest and nourish itself from stone and iron. The coral is appropriate because it supposedly heals "boiling of the intestines and the blood and protects against the evil eye and magic."

http://ullam.typepad.com/ullabenulla/2007/01/index.html

"Ostrich eggs, prized not only for their rarity, but also for their rich symbolism, were made into beautiful art objects. The exhibition includes three stunning examples of drinking vessels in the form of ostriches made by Elias Geyer in Leipzig, about 1589–95. The ostrich egg was a symbol of the Immaculate Conception and of the sol verus, the true sun, a metaphor for God. The Dresden ostriches hold horseshoes in their beaks, illustrating the belief that the giant birds were capable of digesting anything, even iron, as Pliny the Elder contended."

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Prince ... n_more.htm

Re: Lombardische Trieste

32
Hm ... interesting. From your examples it seems, as if the German combination of horseshoe and ostrich is earliest (?)
This page
http://martinprestonsculptures.co.uk/We ... strich.htm
assumes, that the Angevin king of Hungary Charles Robert (since 1308) adopted the symbol of the ostrich (with horseshoe ?) to show his strength.
In 1526 Hungary was lost to the Osmans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moh%C3%A1cs

which attacked then Vienna 1529

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vienna

and after this stayed without success parts of Hungary became part of the Habsburg Empire, others went with Osmans.

Ferdinand I. got then a coronation as "King of the Romans" 11 January 1531, Aachen, reigning together with his brother Emperor Charles V.

Schäufelein's ostrich of ca. 1535 (actually Hoffmann gives 1530-35) might include a comment on this, the poem I referred to above was accompanied by a graphic from Erhard Schön (similar ostrich with horse shoe) which is given to ca. 1530.

Gorizia (the place of the deck production, German name Goerz) has and had a key position for Italy/Venezia, Austria and Slowenia. The region had some independence till 1500 and was then given to Emperor Maximilian. More or less it stayed Austrian possession (as Slowenia) till 1918 and became then Italian, not really accepted by some of the population, the Tiroler, which live nowadays partly in Austria and partly in Italy with a lot of trouble at the Italian side (in Gorizia itself the Italian part of the population is nowadays more numerous than the Slowenian and the German/Austrian part).

In the short Austrian-Turkish war 1665-66 there was a battle at Saint-Gotthard (at the modern Hungarian-Austrian border) and French troops participated, said to have had a deciding role for the victory. This should have been ca. 350 km from Gorizia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_ ... %281664%29
Perhaps then opportunities started for a production of French Tarot cards - together with an Hungarian symbol of resistance, ostrich with horse shoe.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Lombardische Trieste

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Thanks for the info and the links - I've been reading up. The ostrich goblet is fabulous, and the Schäufelein cards on trionfi are most interesting - some seem to hint at the tarot. It's a deck that begs to be read, even to one who doesn't read the cards. I'm not at all sure what the lady on the nine of hawk's bells is doing to the dog though...

Pen
He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy...

Re: Lombardische Trieste

34
Huck wrote:Hm ... interesting. From your examples it seems, as if the German combination of horseshoe and ostrich is earliest (?)
I can't find the link now but I read somewhere along the line that the earliest extent illustration of ostrich with horseshoe is in a French 12th century manuscript, now in the British museum. Whatever its origin it seems pretty widespread across Europe, I see no reason for identifying it with Germany in particular come the 15th/16th century.The legend of eating iron goes back to Pliny, making the iron a horseshoe probably (most certainly in heraldry) rests on a pun in medieval french/latin between iron and horseshoe:
quote:
M.Fr. ferrier "blacksmith," from L. ferrarius "of iron," also "blacksmith," from ferrum "iron," possibly of Sem. origin, via Etruscan. In M.L., ferrus also meant "a horseshoe."

In the villa d’Este near Tivoli is a painting by Zucchari showing fortune riding on an ostrich ~ sans horseshoe :)
The ostrich with horseshoe is also one of the devices of the Dukes of Urbino, with the motto “Ich an vordait ein grosser” (I’d like a big one?).

Re: Lombardische Trieste

35
Image


Stemma of the city Leoben, in the Steiermark, Austria ... in this region is something like an "Eisen-Strasse" ... Iron Road, due to iron production in the mountains. Leoben is called the gateway to this road-region.

The stemma is known to be used end of 13th century. The distance between Gorizia and Leoben is 340 km street-way, but the air connection is much shorter, cause the street avoids a lot of high mountains.

The distance between Leoben and Mogersdorf (where the battle 1664 took place) is 140 km street-way.

I would assume, that it's a Styrian symbol and that Gorizia also was counted to Styria.

This is the kingdom of Louis the Great of Hungary, Anjou-King in Hungary in the time, when the playing cards arrived in Europe ... he died 1382.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... s_role.jpg

Then the Osmans hadn't extended their power, but soon would do it. So for long time the earlier kingdom of Hungary became an ideal, which should be reestablished ... the ostrich with iron could become a sort of crusader-symbol. Styria (in austria, but at the border to Hungary) didn't belong to his kingdom, but perhaps Styrian iron served well for weapon production.

I've read, that his father took the ostrich symbol, but Louis especially favored it and even presented it in the Kaiser-Dom in Aix-des-Chapelles (where the emperors were crowned).
Huck
http://trionfi.com
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