Berserkian artifacts in museums

Walter

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This is an old idea I had for a thread, but I'm now going ahead with it. I just got back from New York and while there, I of course visited several museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum. Four years ago (jesus, it's been that long?!), I also visited the Louvre in Paris with Aaz. Along the way I've come across many pieces, be they art or sculpture or armor, that instantly resonated with me in a way that could only have come from my exposure to Berserk.

First of all, it's no secret that Miura bases much of architecture and armor on existing designs. So then it's really not so significant to find direct parallels or even the germ of an amalgamation Miura created when strolling through a museum. Still, it's a great feeling to go from case to case and then run across something striking like these:

griffith-bust.jpg











Remind you of anyone? :griffnotevil:
This mirrors one of the overbearing impressions I got from looking at architecture and art in Paris. Everything tells a story -- and every story, etched in the filigree of very column and doorway, is H E R O I C and R O M A N T I C, on a Biblical scale. Everyone is remembered as beautiful and all the wars were grand and sweepingly heroic.

I'm not trying to imply here that Miura saw this statue and created Griffith afterward. Rather, the idea of this kind of heroic character is ingrained in many facets of art in this period, and it's plastered all over the walls of Paris. Also, I couldn't help but think of Griffith with the light and shadows here creating the illusion of dark wings.

This one's from Paris in one of the many random museums I visited. I can't recall the name. Because of this, I don't know who this bust is of, but really this is one of thousands like this.
kushanarmor-small.jpg













The Kushan blight is invading New York! These are very common, but it was just interesting to me how acutely Miura transferred Turkish design onto Kushan design. Also shown are some katars, which Silat has been seen with on more than one occasion. I actually got the information from the Met on the helmets: mid 16th century; Ottoman period; Turkish; Steel, silver, damascened with gold; H. 10 3/4 in. (27.8 cm)(04.3.456a)
apostlearmor-small.jpg



















This really reminded me of Gaiseric's armor, shown in volume 10, or even just an apostle, given the grotestque, monstrous wings growing out of the figure's back. Of course, this particular piece is nothing unique, just a very ornate design on the armor -- another one of thousands, but this struck me the most of all the armors I saw at the Met that day. Still looking for the information on this one, I didn't copy it down =(. Fairly sure this is Renaissance period armor, based on the figure's depiction.
apostlehelmet.jpg















This looks like one of the many pieces of armor worn by the apostle army prior to their transformation. There were actually many, many helmets like these. One even had a rooster's head poking out of the top, reminding me of the chicken/ostrich apostle.
griffcoronation1.jpg
napoleancoronation.jpg
It's pretty sad that it took me this long to realize this connection, since a copy of the painting hangs in front of my desk here at home. It's Napoleon coronating Josephine.


Well, there's certainly room for this thread to grow. There's hundreds, if not thousands of Berserkian designs that can be spotted in just about any museum in the world. Let's see what we come up with!

Here's a few places to start online, though of course it's no substitute for seeing them in person:
The Louvre: http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=8910
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/


PS: And yes, I know M.C. Escher's designs were an inspiration for the God Hand's appearance in volume 3, and the dimension shown in volume 9. No need to retread well-worn territory though. Expand your searches!
 
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emorace

Guest
haha, yeeah, great initiative :guts:

I collected Inspirations like this years ago for my page too, but i have to reconstruct this area too, so - great suggestion!

But first - we all know Miura, he´s a stay-at-home i would say *g*
But becouse of his classical art study, he will work, more than other mangaka with art books ... like here shown in Berserk Fanbook Vol.1 :ganishka:

fanbook_miuras_work2.jpg


But this could be something equal to me and miura, i dont like museums that much, i like art, dont get me wrong, from all over the world (ok, african art is deadly boring to me XD) especcialy from the orient, i like art very much, will study art on lectureship too, so, i have some nice high quality art books at home too *g*

I dont know if the following counts to the old territory, but i checked this in school some years ago:
inferno_canto_5_lines_32-33.jpg
berserk_souls.jpg


Gustav Doré, from his artwork for The Divine Comedy :isidro:

Yay about your Kushan Sources, its like: 100 points ^^

This here should be old stuff we all know i think, but i saw this for real in a exhibition here in germany, take a shittyphoto with my mobilecam, so:

CLICK
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
emorace said:
But first - we all know Miura, he´s a stay-at-home i would say *g*

He'd announced he visited a naval museum in order to be able to accurately draw ships (Roderick's, among others) years before we first saw Vritannis, so I'm not sure what your point is here. There's really no reason to assume he's never been to a museum.

emorace said:
Gustav Doré, from his artwork for The Divine Comedy :isidro:

Name's spelled "Gustave" since it's French. :slan: But yeah, that's pretty much old territory. At least I think so.

Anyway, there are hundreds of pictures that could be posted from museums all around the world. I wish I was the picture-taking kind myself because I've seen lots of interesting looking stuff over the years. Here are some of the pictures I have laying around on my computer to get started (didn't take these myself):

Helmet01.jpg
Helmet06.jpg
Helmet07.jpg
Helmet02.jpg
Helmet03.jpg
Helmet04.jpg
Helmet05.jpg

And since Walter already posted a Napoleon / Griffith comparison, might as well post this too:

Vol32-Griffith.jpg
Napoleon.jpg
 
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emorace

Guest
Aazealh said:
He'd announced he visited a naval museum in order to be able to accurately draw ships (Roderick's, among others) years before we first saw Vritannis, so I'm not sure what your point is here. There's really no reason to assume he's never been to a museum.[/center]

yeah, i should write that it COULD be that he´s not that active in visiting museums, i thought about his lifestyle depiction from the berserk artbook for example. I dont wanted to say he´s never been to a museum ._.
But, shure, this interview is long ago, and the big breaks on the series could offer him time for stuff like that, i agree ^^ But besides this, i have a picture in mind of Miura, that he´s a pessimistic guy etc., but that are all only subjective conjectures, so i will look at my language next time, to avoid sentences like "as we all know" to make you happy my friend ;)

+ Sorry for "GustavE" ;)
 

Aazealh

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Staff member
Madam President said:
Aazealh, do you remember what country the helmet with the fangs came from? I've never seen a helmet like that before!

Unfortunately I don't, sorry. I think I found that picture on a Russian website but honestly I can't certify it. You should also keep in mind that it could be a reproduction for reenacting or something like that. In the same "scary" vein though, here's Henry VIII's famous horned helmet.

Helmet08.jpg

And as a bonus (no idea where this is from either):

Helmet09.jpg
 
Cool stuff Walter and everyone else. A few years back I was going to do a study of the armor and weapons used in Berserk. I had quite a lot of images that were pretty remarkable but after my laptop fried I lost it all. Anyway, although the breastplate you posted Walter is beautiful and elaborate.. I don't think it's really like Emperor Gaiserics. They're from completely different time periods. Emperor Gaiseric used armor more like Ancient Greek armor. His use of bracers and leg protectors supports an armor style like what Greek, Trojan, etc warriors are often depicted as wearing. If you look at Emperor Gaiseric's upper legs when he's on horseback, you'll also see that his legs are protected by flaps of leather or metal. That also supports an ancient armor style. I doubt his armor was rounded at the bottom. It's more likely to be a relatively straight bottom armor. Like this:
http://www.aurorahistoryboutique.com/products/M000009_L.jpg
Though with pauldrons. And of course far more decorated and elaborate as was typical of both Royalty and leaders. Though I suppose it's open for debate as his pauldrons also have "flaps". It may be solid metal and not flaps. Though I don't think so.

Anyway, I was just searching around for some images and found this. I don't know who made it but it's pretty cool.
http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/Edge02/kushan-pesh.jpg
There's some pretty neat links here:
http://www.gamekult.com/forum/lire_n373616_cat4_page68/
I can't read any of it but the comparisons are very interesting.
* scroll down to bigdaddykane's post*
 

Walter

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Staff member
Ramen4ever said:
Anyway, although the breastplate you posted Walter is beautiful and elaborate.. I don't think it's really like Emperor Gaiserics. They're from completely different time periods. Emperor Gaiseric used armor more like Ancient Greek armor.
I appreciate the insight, it's certainly more thought than I put into the comment. However, I'll play Devil's Advocate here and point out that Miura has often blended periods of armor and architecture in his designs. There doesn't have to be an analog relationship between the development of Berserk armors and architecture and our own.

As for bigdaddykane's post ... well, Jesus. In one giant mess of a post he trumped everything we sought to do here in this entire thread. I can't deny that it's exciting to see his finds (though many are ridiculous - Jack Skellington... seriously, dude?), but also a little disheartening it's not presented in a more comprehensive manner.

Someone already did our homework. Why aren't I happy about this? :sad:

Also this: http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/Edge02/mars_attacks3.jpg Is just fucking ridiculous shit. But I guess that's what you get when you cast such a wiiiide net as these guys did.
 

Aazealh

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Staff member
Walter said:
As for bigdaddykane's post ... well, Jesus. In one giant mess of a post he trumped everything we sought to do here in this entire thread. I can't deny that it's exciting to see his finds (though many are ridiculous - Jack Skellington... seriously, dude?), but also a little disheartening it's not presented in a more comprehensive manner.

It's worth noting that he just reposted everything from the Spanish website he cited, and that the site in question mostly amalgamated references posted either here, on berserkchronicles.com or on various German websites over the years. It's only remarkable because someone took the time to put everything side by side, but very little of it (if any at all) is new: neither the architectural comparisons (usually commented on in the episode thread where they appeared), the historical weapons, armors or torturing tools, nor the usual HR Giger or Gustave Doré nods. And then a good quarter of it only has the vaguest resemblance when it doesn't veer into ridiculousness.

As for Kushan stuff, if you guys want there's still this old thread in which I posted a bunch of pictures (a lot of which have since been borrowed): http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=3695.0

Walter said:
Someone already did our homework. Why aren't I happy about this? :sad:

Honestly it doesn't cover much of this thread's topic, if I understood what you meant to do with it (posting things that have a Berserk "feel" to them, without being necessarily related). And again, most of it has been posted here years ago anyway.
 
Walter said:
I appreciate the insight, it's certainly more thought than I put into the comment. However, I'll play Devil's Advocate here and point out that Miura has often blended periods of armor and architecture in his designs. There doesn't have to be an analog relationship between the development of Berserk armors and architecture and our own.

As for bigdaddykane's post ... well, Jesus. In one giant mess of a post he trumped everything we sought to do here in this entire thread. I can't deny that it's exciting to see his finds (though many are ridiculous - Jack Skellington... seriously, dude?), but also a little disheartening it's not presented in a more comprehensive manner.

Someone already did our homework. Why aren't I happy about this? :sad:

Also this: http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/Edge02/mars_attacks3.jpg Is just fucking ridiculous shit. But I guess that's what you get when you cast such a wiiiide net as these guys did.


Yeah they definitely went a little overboard. I was pretty amazed at most of it though. Primarily the torture devices and architecture.
But back to Emperor Gaiseric's armor. I fully agree that Miura blends armor and many other things from different periods. A very good example of this is the armor of the old Band of the Hawk compared to the Tudor Empire knights they fought with. The Tudor Empire's knights wore armor that was very thick and bulky. Kind of like armor in the late 16th century. The Band of the Hawk on the other hand.. generally wore lighter armor. Griffith excluded. Guts and most of the others only had partial armor. And before Guts got the Berserk armor, I'm pretty sure all of his boots were leather. Not metal. I'm not entirely sure which period their armor was most like but if I had to make a reasonable guess, I'd say 17th century.
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/arms_and_armor/richard_holden/objectview.aspx?page=2&sort=5&sortdir=asc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=4&dd2=25&vw=1&collID=25&OID=40006188&vT=2
Still, I think Emperor Gaiseric's armor was meant to look like some kind of ancient armor, to emphasize that it was a different time period than what was at the time (volume 10) the present. What's also interesting is the dead bodies in the picture above him. They mostly don't even have armor, just helmets, and one guy in the front with scale mail.. and a guy on the previous page also with scale mail.. or maybe lamellar. The helmets however, are viking style.. same with the leather straps/belts, shields and even the swords. I'm not sure what those horse headed staffs are.. wild guess: their symbol.. kind of like how flags were used later on.

An interesting part of Emperor Gaiseric's armor is the symbol on his chest and shield. A sideways crescent moon with a smaller circle in it.. though the one on his chest is actually horns. Still kind of looks like a large circle being eclipsed by a smaller one.
2heawlu.png

:carcus:
http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/astro.html


Anyway, what I really want to know is what style of sword Griffith uses. He generally uses a slightly curved blade. Yet his guard is like that of a rapier. A long civil war style cutlass with a rapier style guard or Sabre. A side-sword with a curved blade. A szablya?
I'm not really sure.
His swords do generally have this style of design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cavalry-sabre.png
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Ramen4ever said:
Anyway, what I really want to know is what style of sword Griffith uses. He generally uses a slightly curved blade. Yet his guard is like that of a rapier.

Looks like standard sabres to me. The guards don't strike me as being more rapier-like or anything. As I'm sure you know, there have been many, many variations in sabre design in Europe over the centuries, not to mention between different countries. You can find quillons, half-guards, full guards, ornamental or not.
 
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emorace

Guest
Walter said:
Also this: http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/Edge02/mars_attacks3.jpg Is just fucking ridiculous shit. But I guess that's what you get when you cast such a wiiiide net as these guys did.

I just started to laugh as i read your comment XD
Sorry for Spam :daiba:
 
Aazealh said:
Looks like standard sabres to me. The guards don't strike me as being more rapier-like or anything.

His guards change over time. Sabres don't really have wire frame guards that I know of, they use basket guards or this thin finger guard that I don't know the name of (Briquet?). Griffith has used a basket hilt guard. I think he's actually using one now. He also used a basket guard when he first fought with Guts. So I guess those could be called Sabres. But if you look at his guard when he first lectures Guts (After Guts argument with Casca):
2582pdw.png

It looks like a 3 wire frame guard.
2pr5svk.png


Generally sabres had guards like this:
http://www.peterburgcity.ru/arts/arms/images/s31.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sabre_bayonette_carabine.jpg
Though I suppose it could be a French style cavalry Sabre:
http://en.empirecostume.com/sabers-and-swords-semi-industrial-production-c76.htm
Then again it also looks a bit like a Pappenheimer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapier


some more curved blades & guards
http://www.thearma.org/Youth/sword_00013.jpg
http://www.arco-iris.com/George/europe.htm

Edit* Problem with the Sabre idea is that even the wire basket guard sabres don't really have a circular guard at the top like Griffith's. It's almost like a Japanese Tsuba.
http://www.arco-iris.com/George/tsuba.htm#tsuba
Or like I posted above, a pappenheimer... though a pretty weird one at that.
I suppose it could be a sabre like this one but with a 3 piece guard.
http://www.antiquehelper.com/auctionimages/22069t.jpg
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Aazealh said:
Honestly it doesn't cover much of this thread's topic, if I understood what you meant to do with it (posting things that have a Berserk "feel" to them, without being necessarily related). And again, most of it has been posted here years ago anyway.
Indeed, that is the thread's idea -- more the impression of Berserk seen in various designs across history. But I just figured we'd come across these direct parallels as we all explored museums online and such, and they'd be heralded as  great discoveries, like archaeologists  :isidro:   ...  :guts:

Ramen4ever said:
An interesting part of Emperor Gaiseric's armor is the symbol on his chest and shield. A sideways crescent moon with a smaller circle in it.. though the one on his chest is actually horns. Still kind of looks like a large circle being eclipsed by a smaller one.
2heawlu.png

:carcus:
http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/astro.html
I was about to say, it is a rather abstract symbol, but it does somewhat resemble an important phenomena in Berserk: a solar eclipse.  :SK: Good point. And it's not something I'd considered before... This isn't a topic for thsi thread but... I wonder why he would have chosen that, if that does indeed represent a solar eclipse.

Anyway, what I really want to know is what style of sword Griffith uses. He generally uses a slightly curved blade. Yet his guard is like that of a rapier. A long civil war style cutlass with a rapier style guard or Sabre. A side-sword with a curved blade. A szablya?
I'm not really sure.
I spent some time myself trying to isolate the type of sword Griffith uses. And I think it's kind of unique. My conclusion is that it's a sapier =)
 
Walter said:
I spent some time myself trying to isolate the type of sword Griffith uses. And I think it's kind of unique. My conclusion is that it's a sapier =)
I agree and I've also spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. In the last few days and a few years back as well. He's used at least 3 or 4 maybe more swords. His first sword that he tossed to Casca was a curved blade but it just had a cross guard. Later he had a Basket hilt and then the 3 piece guard that I can't really figure out. Now he uses a very decorated basket hilt. The only real constant is the curved blade.

Anyway, found this interesting grotesque close helm. Apparently it's in Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester MA.
2jevklk.jpg


Put these on a Skeleton and it's the closest you'll ever get to a real Emperor Gaiseric's helm. :guts:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2051/2345516183_faba9e8d7c.jpg
http://www.incarnationstudios.com/griegorvonnyc/pics/lionheadhelmet.jpg
Not even remotely as cool though.

Grotesque helmets are pretty hard to find. Most likely because they were extremely difficult to make. At least compared to common close helms and "pig face" helms.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Ramen4ever said:
His guards change over time. Sabres don't really have wire frame guards that I know of, they use basket guards or this thin finger guard that I don't know the name of (Briquet?). Griffith has used a basket hilt guard. I think he's actually using one now. He also used a basket guard when he first fought with Guts. So I guess those could be called Sabres.

Yeah, he mostly uses sabres with a guard protecting the whole hand through the series (I'm not sure if the word basket is proper for it, as it's not really wires interlacing but more of a full cover). Those aren't uncommon at all really, I've seen plenty in museums before. If you want one for yourself, there even happens to be one selling here for only 12,300€. A real bargain. :carcus:

Anyway, they're definitely sabres.

Ramen4ever said:
But if you look at his guard when he first lectures Guts (After Guts argument with Casca):
http://i44.tinypic.com/2582pdw.png
It looks like a 3 wire frame guard.
]http://i44.tinypic.com/2pr5svk.png[/img]

But sabres have had those type of guards before, I told you. =) It's not rare to see them on calvary sabres from the 19th century, notably Polish ones. Here, even Wikipedia has some. Visit museums all over Europe and you'll find plenty of them.

Ramen4ever said:
Generally sabres had guards like this:
http://www.peterburgcity.ru/arts/arms/images/s31.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sabre_bayonette_carabine.jpg
Though I suppose it could be a French style cavalry Sabre:
http://en.empirecostume.com/sabers-and-swords-semi-industrial-production-c76.htm
Then again it also looks a bit like a Pappenheimer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapier

I don't like the word "generally" much. I told you, sabres really have seen a lot of variations over the years. The Napoleonic Wars made the briquet popular (used in the infantry) but sabres aren't limited to this, nor to simple bayonets.

Walter said:
I spent some time myself trying to isolate the type of sword Griffith uses. And I think it's kind of unique. My conclusion is that it's a sapier =)
Ramen4ever said:
I agree and I've also spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. In the last few days and a few years back as well. He's used at least 3 or 4 maybe more swords. His first sword that he tossed to Casca was a curved blade but it just had a cross guard. Later he had a Basket hilt and then the 3 piece guard that I can't really figure out. Now he uses a very decorated basket hilt. The only real constant is the curved blade.

Damn you people I tell you those are fucking sabres. :mozgus: Ornamental guards aren't limited to rapiers. Sabres have had cross guards, full-basket guards, half-basket guards, and 3 wire guards as well during the many centuries they've been a popular weapon in Europe. The rule of thumb is that as long as the blade's curved, it's a sabre. And indeed, though Griffith has used a lot of different weapons throughout the series, they've all been sabres. If you want rapiers look at what Serpico uses. Thrusting weapons with a straight blade.

Walter said:
I was about to say, it is a rather abstract symbol, but it does somewhat resemble an important phenomena in Berserk: a solar eclipse. :SK: Good point. And it's not something I'd considered before... This isn't a topic for thsi thread but... I wonder why he would have chosen that, if that does indeed represent a solar eclipse.

It's what jumped at me when I first saw it: the eclipse symbolism. But like it says in the link Ramen posted, the symbol is old and may not really mean anything in the context. Still, no matter what it refers to, it's awesome. :SK:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Aazealh said:
Anyway, they're definitely sabres.
Well, I'm convinced. Especially after I found this "COLD STEEL NAPOLEAN SABER" with Google Images.  :badbone:

Anyway, I think I was thrown off initially because rapiers seem to have the more extravagant guards, whereas sabers are normally very plain. Of course, that's not a rule or anything, it's just what I saw from my own [limited] searches.
 
Yeah I guess I'll fall in line as well. Thanks Aazealh, for clearing it up. I was distracted by the same thing as Walter actually. Though there was still the issue of how his sabre guard comes together at the top with a larger circular guard. I checked on ebay since I didn't have much luck with googles images and found a close up view of a sabre that has a guard that also has a larger though not exactly circular guard at the top.

(click for image)

Close enough, I guess.

As close as your gonna get to Emperor Gaiseric's style of helm in a movie,
2rnasrt.jpg
 
Not exactly an artifact, and not exactly a museum, but when I saw this place on TV I was immediately reminded of the place Serpico chose to fight Guts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binbirdirek_Cistern
http://english.istanbul.com/PhotoGallery/PhotoGalleryDetails.aspx?PId=1025

I'm sorry I couldn't get a better picture.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
m said:
Not exactly an artifact, and not exactly a museum, but when I saw this place on TV I was immediately reminded of the place Serpico chose to fight Guts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binbirdirek_Cistern
http://english.istanbul.com/PhotoGallery/PhotoGalleryDetails.aspx?PId=1025

I'm sorry I couldn't get a better picture.

Ohhh, nice. Man, I really need to visit Istanbul. :sad:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
emorace said:
I think this is more like this:

Yeah, we know what really inspired it, but he found it reminiscent and it's a cool place nonetheless... The goal of this thread isn't necessarily to find things that have been inspirations for Miura, but to post cool historical stuff that you feel wouldn't be out of place in Berserk.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Well, it's not a museum, but I couldn't resist:

http://sidetale.net/index.php?id=253

Remnants of the Goddo Hando?!
 
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