Anvils

This article on anvil types finds three distinct types for medieval anvils: the anvil bench, the square anvil, and the double horn anvil. I have not (yet) sorted these examples into types.

See also A Gallery of Early Blacksmithing.

• Anvils from Roman-era Scotland: small iron anvil and other tools from Roman fort at Newstead in Roxburghshire, c. 80-100 AD; anvil and punches deposited in Carlingwark Loch in Kircudbrightshire c. 800-200 AD
• Roman anvil found in Czechoslovakia and dating to 200 AD
• Anvils from the Mästermyr chest, 9th century: SHM 21592:072, SHM 21592:073, SHM 21592:074
• Tubal-Cain at his anvil, the Caedmon manuscript (Junius 11, p. 54), c. 1000
• Craftsmen at work, the Reiner Musterbuch (ÖNB cod. 507, fol. 1v), c. 1200-1220
• The armor-makers, The St. John the Evangelist Window at Chartres Cathedral, c. 1205-1215
• Miracle of Saint Marcel of Paris, Breviary of Philippe le Bel (BNF Latin 1023, fol. 365v), c. 1290-1295
• Hartmann von Starkenberg (fol. 256v) and Regenbogen (fol. 381r), Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848), c. 1300-1330
• A blacksmith at work, a book of hours (British Library Harley 6563, fol. 68v), c. 1320-1330
• Carthaginians surrendering their arms and forging new ones, Histoire ancienne jusq’à César (British Library Royal 20 D I, fol. 304), second quarter of the 14th century
• A blacksmith, The book of the treasure (BNF Fr. 571, fol. 66v), c. 1326
• Hedroit makes the nails for the Crucifixion, the Holkham Bible Picture Book (British Library Add 47682, fol. 31r), c. 1327-1335
• The sword in the stone in fols. 156v, 157v, 158v, 159v, Histoire de Merlin (BNF Fr. 95), c. 1280-1290
• Small stump anvil, 14th-17th century
• Blacksmiths on fols. 61 and 61v, Roman de Toute Chevalerie (BNF Fr. 24364), c. 1308-1312
• Tubal-Cain at the anvil, Speculum humanae salvationis (British Library Sloane 346, fol. 13v), c. 1330-1340
• Jubal and Tubal-Cain, Speculum Humanae Salvationis (ÖNB s. n. 2612, fol. 25v), c. 1330-1340
• Saint Paul the Hermit reads, Speculum Historiale (BNF Arsenal 5080, fol. 190v), c. 1335
• Fols. 84r, 107r, 171v, Romance of Alexander (Bodl. 264), c. 1338-1344
• Nature at her forge, Roman de la Rose (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève 1126, fol. 115), c. 1350-1360
• Tubal-Cain at the forge, Speculum humanae salvationis (BNF Latin 511, fol. 23v), c. 1370-1380
• Minerva (and working men & women), De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598, fol. 13), beginning of the 15th century
• Nature at her forge, Roman de la Rose (Douce 188, fol. 122v), beginning of the 15th century
• Arthur draws the sword from the stone, Histoire de Merlin (BNF Fr. 117), beginning of the 15th century
• Minerva instructing armourers, De mulieribus claris (British Library Royal 16 G V, fol. 11), early 15th century
• St. Eligius resists temptation from the devil in the form of a woman, fresco in Millstatt church, c. 1400-1420
• Detail from the February fresco at Castello Buonconsiglio, c. 1405-1410
• Minerva instructing armorers, De mulierbus claris (British Library Royal 20 C V, fol. 15), first quarter of the 15th century
• Tubal-Cain, Speculum humanae salvationis (Biblioteca Nacional de España B. 19 (Vit 25-7), fol. 22v), c. 1420-1440
• Tubalcain at the anvil, Speculum humanae salvationis (Douce 204, fol. 23r), c. 1430-1450
The Mendel Hausbuch and Landauer Hausbuch feature several metalworkers with different types of anvils working in the 15th and 16th centuries.
• Faustina, De mulieribus claris (British Library Royal 16 G V, fol. 114v), c. 1440
• Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain, Speculum humanae salvationis (ÖNB 12883, fol. 72r), c. 1445-1455
• Alexander of Macedonia apprenticed to a bronzesmith, Mare Historiarum (BNF Latin 4915, fol. 143v), c. 1447-1455
• St. Eligius in His Workshop, c. 1450
• Vulcan at his anvil, Complaint of Mars and Venus (Fairfax 16, fol. 14v), 1450 (?)
• Tubal-Cain at the forge, Speculum humanae salvationis (BNF Fr. 188, fol. 27v), mid-15th century
• St. Adrian, book of hours (Douce 381, fol. 82r), third quarter of the 15th century
• St. Adrian, book of hours (Bibl. Mazarine Faralicq 7, fol. 99), third quarter of the 15th century
• Journey to Cavalry in the Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier, ca. 1455: Hedroit the blacksmith's wife making nails
• Vulcan forges the arms of Aeneas, Virgil's Aeneid (BNF Latin 7939 A, fol. 156), 1458
• Tubalcain, the first blacksmith, Speculum humanae salvationis (Douce 4, fol. 33r), c. 1460-1470
• Martyrdom of Saint Victor Stratelates, Speculum Historiale (BNF Fr. 50, fol. 389v), 1463
• Playing-card with an artisan, 1465
• A goldsmith’s workshop, Schachzabelbuch (WLB Cod. poet. 2, fol. 188v), 1467
• The children of Mercury, Biblia Pauperum (ÖNB 3085, fol. 25r), 1475
• Mercury and His Children, the Wolfegg Housebook, c. 1475-1485
• Fols. 64v and 128r, Schachzabelbuch (ÖNB 3049), 1479
• Cuer before the tapestry of Souvenir, Livre du Cuer d’Amours Espris (BNF Fr. 24399, fol. 115), c. 1480-1485
• The martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia, Legenda Aurea (BNF Fr. 245, fol. 89v), c. 1480-1490
• Nature holds an anvil (fol. 123v) and forges a baby (fol. 140), Roman de la Rose (British Library Harley 4425), c. 1490-1500
• Vulcan, Êchecs amoreux (BNF Fr. 143, fol. 148), c. 1496-1498
• Nature at her forge, making the birds and animals, Roman de la Rose (Douce 195), end of the 15th century
• St. Adrian, book of hours (Douce 112, fol. 156r), early 16th century
• Vulcan at his anvil addressed by Apollo, print made by Benedetto Montagna, c. 1500-1520
• St. Eligius in the Workshop by Niklaus Manuel, 1515
• Two goldsmiths fighting, print made by Jean de Gourmont, c. 1520-1530
• An anvil made in 1533
• St. Eligius resists temptation from the devil in the form of a woman, c. 1535-1545
• Bowl with Vulcan forging an arrow painted by Francesco Xanto Avelli, 1539
• A silversmith, the forger pulls a man bound by chains, from the various operations of alchemy, prints made by Domenico Beccafumi, c. 1540-1550
• A scene in a forge by Jan Verbeeck, 1548
• Fols. 96v, 98r, smith, Schwazer Bergbuch (Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Cod. Dipl. 856), 1556
• A 16th-century armorer’s anvil, with the date “1565” incised on one side. The Met has a few other 16th century anvils, including 29.158.779 and 21.125.1.
• Fols. 88v, 89v, 150r, Schwazer Bergbuch (ÖNB 10852), 1561
• The Locksmith, The Spurrier, The Coppersmith, The Nailsmith, The Scythe-Smith, The Armorer, The Smith, The Basin-Maker, The (Mail) Armor-Maker, Das Ständebuch, 1568
• The Goldsmith’s Shop by Étienne Delaune, 1576
• A stained-glass rondel of a smithy from Sternberk, c. 1580-1600
• Vulcan’s forge, print made by Léonard Gaultier, 1581