Defensive Display: Shields from The Met Collection at The Met Fifth Avenue
Defensive Display
Shields from The Met Collection
Ongoing
Throughout history, the shield has been one of the most common and versatile forms of personal defense, used by foot soldiers and kings alike. Its ubiquity and enduring importance are reflected in myth, legend, art, song, and poetry. Highlighting selected treasures from The Met’s renowned collection of arms and armor, Defensive Display features shields from around the world and a range of time periods, in various forms, sizes, and materials.
Primarily intended to protect on the battlefield, decorated shields also served to dazzle and intimidate—they gave their bearers a visual presence that stood out among the assembled masses of combatants. Shields were also used in statecraft and for social display: the visual lexicon that made them recognizable on the battlefield could serve a similar purpose in parades or sporting competitions—their designs and decorations compelling observers to look and admire. This focused exhibition explores the shield’s basic utility as a defense, its role in visual display, and considers its style and construction, including the ways that its shapes and forms were guided by the object’s regional and cultural origins.
