This extraordinary 15th-century solid-silver chain belonged to a German marksmen’s guild of St George. It was worn on high days by the Marksman King, the title given to the winner of the annual jay shoot event: the shooting of a wooden bird.
The chain consists of 20 identical shackles with a Burgundian fire steel. The medallion made by leaves and flower in ajour work is topped by a statuette of St Christopher. Under the medallion hangs a concave curved chest plate. It serves as a niche for two plastic statuettes on a pedestal, one of them the guild’s patron, St George fighting the dragon.
The whole is completed by a crowned bird referring to the jay shoot.
length: 85 cm (geheel) length: 45.5 cm (krans) width: 27 cm (krans) length: 6.7 cm (medaillon) width: 7.9 cm (medaillon) length: 14.6 cm (borstplaat) width: 8.3 cm (borstplaat) height: 17.5 cm (vogel geheel) length: 14.3 cm (vogel geheel) width: 2.6 cm (vogel geheel) height: 7.4 cm (vogel) length: 14.3 cm (vogel) width: 2.6 cm (vogel) height: 4.5 cm (blank schildje) width: 3.9 cm (blank schildje) Schild fam Van Arkelheighthauteurhoogte2.4Schild fam Van Arkelwidthlargeurbreedte2.4height: 6.2 cm (handboog) width: 4.2 cm (handboog) height: 1.4 cm (buks) length: 6 cm (buks) diameter: 4.5 cm (medaillon St-Joris) depth: 0.5 cm (medaillon St-Joris)
