I googled "Reale Armeria Madrid" and found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L89uCB2TwUk

Please ignore the bloody awful music, or better still, turn the sound off.

Yes Hisham.........Thats a great film clip...even got the face -shield in it. But that some of the worst guitar music Ive ever heard......I have been a guitarist since I was 10 years old ( a long time ago) and played in many bands but this sounds like some Spaniards plugged their guitars in and decided to kill a bull with 'em !!!!!

The face-shield and larger armor picture that D. Bell posted is in the "Armeria del Palacio Real de Madrid". I've seen it described as belonging to either Carlos V or his bodyguard. I too first noticed the armor/saved the picture beacuse of the incredibly nifty folding partisan. There's a similar partisan in the Higgins Museum.

ps. - I see some other folks have also answered this question while I was digging out my Real Armeria books :)

From what I have seen "face shields" of the fifteenth century are a feature of Bohemian art i.e. in and around the Hussite Wars. There are several of them in works at the Convent of St Agnes (medieval art museum) in Prague. I seem to recall they did have a particular "spiritual" connotation and I am not convinced that they were a depiction of actual shields rather than merely artistic licence, the pavise being the dominant form of hand defence in that area at that time.

Hi All,

Can You please help me to identify this shield.
The painting (Panorama) is of the end of the XIXth (1893). It illustrates the defeat of Charles the Bold against the Swiss leagues in 1476. Louis Braun was very well informed, surrounded with museum pieces but we cannot blame him for the errors of his time.

http://www.murtenpanorama.ch/en/home/index.php

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I'll take a shot.
Perhaps they are in fact shields of mercenarys or some other type of troop that doesn't have there own heraldry, and perhaps the only reason the faces are so pronounced is not that they are in fact shaped as such, but that they are painted on in a similar way to the hoplites hoplon, and therefore the only reason that they appear three dimensional is because (generally?) artists of the time struggled with the concept or perception and the like.

Thread necromancy again. :)

Here's an image of a face shield from a 15th century Book of Hours by the artist known as the Rohan Master.

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I have been doing some research on something and noticed an book illumination of a face shaped shield. I didnt think anyting of it until noticed some more better ones. Was this a real shield in the early 15th century? And if so how were they made.

Example http://manuscriptminiatures.com/lancelot-du-l...-119/2019/

Example http://manuscriptminiatures.com/book-of-hours-douce-114/1938/

Example http://manuscriptminiatures.com/livre-des-mer...2810/2831/

Example http://manuscriptminiatures.com/de-casibus-francais-229/2647/

Example http://manuscriptminiatures.com/de-casibus-francais-229/2640/

You can find similar shapes - might even be roughly about the same face, maybe a mystical person? If you look up pictures of the green man they will all look more or less alike, those shield-faces look more or less alike as well so there must be a connection - on the bucklers in Paulus Kals Fechtbuch.
[ Linked Image ]

I bet your right problem some kind of common meaning. Plus might be good at messing with the other sides mind having a giant face stare at them haha. I wonder how the bigger ones were made and if there are any surviving examples?

I really would love to find a 14th/15th century example to see how they were made.

Also any one know anything about this late medusa sheild http://www.flickr.com/photos/98095264@N00/54396656/ It says its in Florence. Update it was painted on by Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio. And also a better image of it. http://anepicadventure.com/images/tFlorence%20072.jpg



Also here is another image of a shield with a face on it. It is also decent resolution. http://andrewhammel.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451...970b-popup

I found another one. This one is from the 1370s. Look at the soldier at the very top. And there is also some one in the middle of the crowd with one.

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/francais-1584/2408/

And here is another one I just found and thought I would just add to this post. http://manuscriptminiatures.com/histoire-romaine-71-a-17/172/

Something tells me that many of these images are based on the same 'original', that various artists saw, studied and then recreated throughout the centuries (or recreated other images based on the first etc...).

Hmm it is possible that could be the case. But I have the feeling its not. But need to do more research :)