Portions of a Parade Armor
When complete, this horseman's armor would have included defenses for the arms and legs and perhaps a matching shaffron (horse's head defense) and saddle. The high-relief ornament, originally decorated with gold and silver, includes a scene of the Judgment of Paris at the top of the breastplate.
Discovered in 1912 in the parish church at Aya, near San Sebastian in northern Spain, this important harness was restored in 1914 by the Metropolitan Museum's armorers, who expertly replaced the missing lower half of the visor and the collar of the helmet and most of the tassets (defenses for the upper thighs).
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