The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 29, 2025

Parade Spear

c. 1570–1600
steel, etched; brass lugs; hexagonal wood haft with leather straps; woolen tassel
Overall: 208.2 cm (81 15/16 in.); Blade: 29.5 cm (11 5/8 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1789
Location: 210A Armor Court

Did You Know?

The Habsburg coat of arms, seen here, features a double-headed eagle.

Description

This weapon is etched with the imperial Habsburg arms on one face and the Burgundian stave cross of St. Andrew on the other. In the 1500s, parade spears of this type became part of the insignia of infantry and light cavalry officers in the imperial army. In 1548 Titian painted an equestrian portrait of Emperor Charles V holding such a spear. At his abdication in 1556, Charles split the Habsburg inheritance between his son, Philip II of Spain, who was awarded control of Burgundy, and his brother, Frederick, who received the imperial title and the family's central European lands. This spear probably belongs to this later period and its purpose was likely ceremonial.
  • ?-1916
    Frank Gair Macomber (1849-1941) Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1916-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of Arms and Armour. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], 1900. cat. no. 307 archive.org
    Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924. Mentioned: p. 193, H39; Reproduced: Plate XLII, H39 archive.org
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. pp. 129, 167; cat. no. 109
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. cat. no. 113, p. 187
  • Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=Parade Spear|url=false|author=|year=c. 1570–1600|access-date=29 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1789