Faveur (Schulterdecke)

At a tournament, a lady might distinguish a favoured knight by presenting him with a faveur as a token of her esteem. In the lists, the knight thus singled out generally wore the faveur attached to his armour, his helmet, or his lance. To capture one’s opponent’s faveur was lauded as a heroic feat. A faveur honourably won in the lists was a treasured gift that, as an act of chivalry, could be presented to a lady watching the martial encounter. Losing his faveur spurred a knight to move heaven and earth to win it back. In Perceforest, one of the great French chivalrous novels of the late Middle Ages, we read: ‘At this moment a girl appeared and said: “Le Tor, noble lord, Queen Lydore sends you this helmet and the young Lyriope this sleeve made of red velvet to decorate your helmet. They summon you to defend it well.”’ Most faveurs were pieces of female attire or accessories like a sleeve, a belt, or a veil, but might also, as here, be a small shawl.

This faveur is one of eight (invs. B 76–B 83) formerly in the collection assembled by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria. It is made of blue velvet, over which is spread a delicate net made of gold thread. The central red velvet heart is embellished with gold and pearl embroidery.

In the 1583 inventory of the collection at Ambras Castle (fol. 66v) it is described as ‘A faveur worn over the pauldron made of blue velvet, on this is sewn a grid made of silver and gold cord, in the centre a red velvet heart, on this gold and white enamelled roses, the heart decorated with gold, silver, and pearls. The faveur is lined with gold-coloured atlas’ (Mer ain favor auf ain ächsele von plahem samat, darauf von silber und gulden schnierlen gätterwerch genäet, in der miten ain rot samates herz, darauf guldene und weisz geschmelzte reslen, das herz herumb mit gezognem gold, silber und perlen geziert. die favor ist inwendig mit goldfarbem atlas gefüettert).