This is one of the earliest complete examples of an armet, the characteristic headpiece worn in Italy by mounted soldiers from about 1410 to about 1510. It is stamped with the armorer's name, LIONARDO, and his mark, the letter L in a serrated circle.
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Title:Armet
Armorer:Stamped with the armorer's name, LIONARDO (Italian, probably active in Milan, ca. 1440)
Date:ca. 1440
Geography:probably Milan
Culture:Italian, probably Milan
Medium:Steel, copper alloy
Dimensions:H. 10 3/8 in. (26.3 cm); W. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm); D. 11 in. (27.9 cm); Wt. 9 lb. 4 oz. (4196 g)
Classification:Helmets
Credit Line:Gift of Stephen V. Grancsay, 1942
Accession Number:42.50.2
Marking: Marked on the right side of the visor, and again on the right cheek: LIONARDO within a rectangle; above it, a Gothic letter L in a serrated circle.
Clarence H. Mackay, Roslyn, NY (until d. 1938; his estate, sold through Jacques Seligmann & Co. to Grancsay); Stephen V. Grancsay, New York (by July 15, 1940–42; his gift to MMA).
de Cosson, Charles A. Ancient Helmets and Examples of Mail: A Catalogue of the Objects Exhibited in the Rooms of the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, June 3rd–16th 1880. London: The Institute, 1881. p. 54, no. 36, fig. 32.
Christie, Manson & Woods. Armour and Arms, or, Catalogue of the Famous Collection of Armour and Arms Formed by That Well-Known Connoisseur, The Baron de Cosson, F.S.A., Which Has Been On Loan to the South Kensington Museum for the Last Two Years. London: Christie, Manson & Woods, May 2–3, 1893. p. 35, lot 231.
Laking, Guy Francis, and Charles Alexander Cosson. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries, edited by Francis Henry Cripps-Day. Vol. II. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1920. p. 78, fig. 430.
Mann, J. G. "Ch. A. Baron de Cosson (Vereinsnachrichten)." Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen– und Kostümkunde, Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 12, n.s.v. 3 p. 92.
de Povenashe, H. "Versteigerung Baron de Cosson (+) bei Sotheby, 14. Mai 1929 (Versteigerungen)." Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen– und Kostümkunde, Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 12, n.s.v. 3 pp. 71–72, fig. 2.
Sotheby & Co. The Very Choice Collection of Armour and Weapons: The Property of the late Baron C. A. de Cosson. London: Sotheby & Co., May 14, 1929. p. 34, lot 131, pl. 6.
Grancsay, Stephen V. Loan Exhibition of European Arms and Armor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, August 3 to September 27, 1931. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. p. 19, no. 54, ill.
Karcheski, Walter J., and Thom Richardson. The Medieval Armour from Rhodes. Leeds: Royal Armouries, 2000. p. 3.
Laking, Guy Francis, Charles Alexander Cosson, Francis Henry Cripps-Day, and Claude Blair. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries. Vol. II. Cambridge: Ken Trotman Ltd., 2000. p. 78, fig. 430.
Williams, Alan. The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the Metallurgy of Armour in the Middle Ages & the Early Modern Period. History of Warfare, Vol. 12. Leiden: Brill, 2002. p. 174.
La Rocca, Donald J. "A William Burges Sketchbook of Helmets, ca. 1880, Bashford Dean and G.F. Lawrence, and Renaissance Leatherwork from London." The Journal of the Arms and Armour Society XIX, no. 5 pp. 201–2, fig. 9–10.
Fallows, Noel. Jousting in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2010. pp. 78–79, fig. 25.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. "Of Arms and Men: Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan, 1912–2012." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 2012), p. 35, fig. 55.
La Rocca, Donald J. How to Read European Armor. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017. p. 46, fig. 54.
Stamped with marks of the Missaglia workshop (Italian, Milan, recorded 1430–1529)
ca. 1475
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![Of Arms and Men: Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan, 1912–2012 [adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 70, no. 1 (Summer, 2012)]](/-/media/images/art/metpublication/cover/2012/of_arms_and_men_arms_and_armor_at_the_metropolitan_1912_2012.jpg)
