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Figure 7 Kalkan shield, Armenian workmanship, lat- ter half 17 century (The Royal Castle of Wawel) Lwow they were especially known as the makers or decorators of various weaponry parts. They made “embroidery on yuft leather, chamois, quiver and bow cases, saddle bags, sad- dles, [...] saddle blankets and other things needed by soldiers”.** Armenian goldsmiths prided themselves for making “costly sabre settings, rich decoration of horse tack, detailed smithing of shields, kalkan shields, chain mail hoods, quivers and cartridge boxes in gold and silver.” Armenians made excellent, flexible and strong sabres which they often deco- rated with oriental hilts scabbards.° Parts and pre-fabricated elements were imported from the East, which was the speciality of, among others the trading house of the Nikorowicz family.” The elements were then put together and fitted. It is therefore not easy to dis- tinguish Armenian production from Oriental imports. Such is the case of several dozer kalkans preserved in Poland. The majority of these round shields are typical of Turkish art. A number of such objects in the Wawel collection seem to be the work of Armenian craftsmen, according to Zdzistaw Zygulski Jun. Armenian artisans worked not just in Lwow. In ZamoS¢, in 1585, Murat Jakubowicz