Paar beenplaten behorend bij de wapenrusting, vermoedelijk gedragen door den ridder Pankraz von Freyberg c. 1500 - 1550

Curator: I see cold hard poetry, a medieval haiku in steel. Editor: And what sharpens your blade? It’s two parts of leg armour—the ‘Paar beenplaten’—believed to have belonged to Pankraz von Freyberg. Circa 1500-1550, anonymous maker, fashioned from metal. Brutal and elegant all at once, right? Curator: "Brutal" is one word. I sense protection but also vulnerability. They feel like fallen leaves. Beautiful, decaying leaves of steel. The idea that the individual segments could mold and adjust... poetry. Each piece moving against the other creates that protective sheath while also allowing mobility. What are your thoughts? Editor: Layering is certainly key to its appeal, I agree. You look at these and you think of craft guilds, hot forges, the physicality of repeatedly hammering and shaping metal, piece by individual piece, for someone of means. Consider the labour to make armour in the 16th century! Not just functional, but a status symbol. Curator: The shaping is so human; that curve has intention, but I almost sense the individual's spirit in it— a kind of medieval "touch me, feel me" in the craft. We can imagine the wear, the journeys. To dream that one small item embodies and touches so many other items is wild! They might even remember battles for him. What an enormous legacy! Editor: I suppose. But that very wear hints at a material history—ores mined, shaped by apprentices under masters, a specific economic structure allowing for specialization. So more like "produced and possessed by", but I see your poetic reading! Curator: Of course! A collision of those concepts. These artifacts become these strange containers—literal and emotional. A container of memories, too. Thanks to this artistic creation! Editor: Well, that certainly is an armour-piercing notion! Fascinating the ways our individual experiences alter our view, though, isn’t it?