Objekt 9989
Impaled Coats of Arms
Description
Family coats of arms are symbolic representations of a family or individual. When individuals married, their coats of arms were “impaled,” that is to say adjoined or combined to signify the new alliance.
The tombstone finial on the right shows the coat of arms of Hans Jakob Waldner von Freundstein (1554–1619), the scion of an Alsatian noble family. In 1578 he married Lucia von Sickingen (d. before 1589), whose arms are shown to the left of his. Those on the right belong to the Pfirts, the family of his second wife, Lucia von Pfirt (1554‒1619).
Object description
Commemorative tablet with impaled arms
probably Basel, probably 17th cent.
Sandstone, left and lower edge restored
Old stock
Inv. 1906.3493.