Parrying Dagger for the Left Hand

1661

Italian, Artist Lorenzo Palumbo, Maker

On View

Great Hall, Level 2, West Wing

Parrying Dagger for the Left Hand: 1 of Collection Gallery

Parrying Dagger for the Left Hand: 2 of Collection Gallery

Parrying Dagger for the Left Hand: 3 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

The steel guard that protected the left hand of the owner of this dagger was pierced to form lacelike patterns of foliage, flowers, and fantastical animals. Near the blade, the maker hid a Latin signature along the edge of the lush decoration; it reads, Laurentius Palumbo de Neapoli fecit [Lorenzo Palumbo of Naples made this]. Although many daggers of this type survive from seventeenth-centruy Italy, where they were popular among nimble fencers who wielded them alongside slender rapiers, few bear the names of their creators. Palumbo's signature suggests the pride he wook in this refined work's balance of form and function.

Title Parrying Dagger for the Left Hand

Artwork Date 1661

Makers (Artist) Italian Lorenzo Palumbo (Maker) Italian

Medium Steel

Dimensions Overall: 17 1/2 × 10 7/16 × 3 3/8 inches (44.5 × 26.5 × 8.6 cm) Overall (blade): 12 1/2 inches (31.8 cm)

Classification Arms and Armor

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Gift of William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 53.216

Markings

Inscriptions Inscribed: Lavrentius Palvumbo De Neapoli Fecit

Provenance

Baron Frédéric Spitzer (Paris, France) June 10-14, 1895, sold by (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, France) lot 287

until 1904, Commandant Louis Dupasquier (Paris, France)

1904-1924, purchased by Comte Hector Economos (Paris, France)

1924, sold through (Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co.)

1924, purchased by William Randolph Hearst

by 1951, William Randolph Hearst Foundation

1953-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Buttin, Charles. Economos Collection: Waffen und Ruestungen. Paris, 1856–1931 (?), pp. 13–15, cat. 27. [unpublished manuscript]

Catalogue des Armes et Armures Faisant Partie de la Collection Spitzer. Sales cat., Galerie Georges Petit. Paris, June 10-15, 1895, p. 32, no. 287.

Laking, Guy Francis, Charles A. de Cosson, and Francis Henry Cripps-Day. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries, Vol. IV. London, 1921, p. 94.

Robinson, F.W. "A Gift of Arms and Armor from the Collection of William Randolph Hearst," Bulletin of the DIA 33, no. 1 (1953-1954), pp. 1-5

The Art of the Armorer. Exh. cat., Flint Institute of Arts. Flint, 1967, unpaginated, cat. 46 (ill.).

Cordera, Paola. La Fabbrica del Rinascimento: Frédéric Spitzer mercante d’arte e collzionista nell'Europa delle nuove Nazioni. Bologna, 2014, p. 388.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Italian; Lorenzo Palumbo, Parrying Dagger for the Left Hand, 1661, steel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of William Randolph Hearst Foundation, 53.216.