SHOWING CONVICTION AND SUPPORT FOR THE REFORMATION? A 16TH-CENTURY STOVE TILE FROM TURKU BEARING THE ELECTORAL COAT OF ARMS OF SAXONY
SHOWING CONVICTION AND SUPPORT FOR THE REFORMATION? A 16TH-CENTURY STOVE TILE FROM TURKU BEARING THE ELECTORAL COAT OF ARMS OF SAXONY

Summary/Abstract: In the 16th-century Europe, the ruling classes used art, architecture and personal adornment as a way of showing their power, authority and wealth. Their portraits and coats of arms were also used as proofs of lineage and as expressions of political and religious loyalties and convictions. This article presents a stove tile from Turku in Finland, bearing the electoral coat of arms of Saxony, and discusses its role as an expression of this social display. Since some of the 16th-century Saxon electors were renowned secular supporters of the Lutheran Reformation, and their images were used as a form of religious and political propaganda, the article discusses the stove tile from Turku as part of this historical framework. The article analyses the origin and dating of the stove tile, on the basis of heraldry, stylistic analysis and archaeological sources. The significance and possible owners of the stove tile are explored by using historical sources.

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