This helmet was forged from watered steel and decorated in gold with arabesques and Koranic inscriptions. It is very similar to one now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, made about 1560 for a grand vizier of the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (reigned 1520–66). Both helmets presumably were made in one of the imperial workshops, possibly in Istanbul. Although this helmet is a practical military object, judging from its fine materials and ornamentation, it must have been created primarily as part of a parade armor and as a symbol of rank.
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This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Neck piece rear, proper right
Neck piece rear, proper left
Brow piece front, proper right
Brow piece front, proper left
Register, front
Register, proper right front
Register, proper right
Register, proper right
Register, proper right rear
Register, proper left rear
Register, proper left
Register, proper left
Register, proper left
Register, proper left front
Top nasal
Top nasal detail
Proper right cheek detail
Proper right cheek
Artwork Details
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Title:Helmet
Date:ca. 1560
Geography:probably Istanbul
Culture:Turkish, probably Istanbul
Medium:Steel, iron, gold, silver, copper alloy
Dimensions:H. 10 3/4 in. (27.8 cm); Wt. 5 lb. 11 oz. (2580 g)
Classification:Helmets
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1904
Accession Number:04.3.456a
Inscription: Inscribed on top of the nasal: "There is no God but God", "Mohammad is the Messenger of God"; below the nasal: "Victory from God", "By order of Safi ad-Din Ahmad Ibn (al-Hasan?)"; at the base of the nasal: "and close (imminent) conquest"; on the band at the base of bowl: a Koranic inscription; on the peak or visor, pious inscriptions which includes the 99 names of Allah, among them: "the hearing, the wise"; on the right cheek piece, front plate: "God"; on the right cheek piece, bottom most plate: "Oh living", "Oh everlasting."
Charles Maurice Camille de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, Paris (until 1904; sold to MMA).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bright Side of the Battle: Symbol and Ceremony in Islamic Arms and Armor," January 17 1985–January 11, 1987.
Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent," January 25–May 17, 1987, no. 49.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent," June 14–September 7, 1987, no. 49.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent," October 4, 1987–January 17, 1988, no. 49.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arms and Armor from the Islamic World," February 10, 2016–December 3, 2017, no. 33.
Crooke y Navarrot, Juan Bautista Conde de Valencia de Don Juan, and Real Armería. Catálogo Histórico-Descriptivo de la Real Armería de Madrid. Madrid: Fototipias de Hauser y Menet, 1898. pp. 369–70, no. M. 19 (Turkish helmet of Alí Bajá).
Cosson, Charles Alexander. Le Cabinet d'Armes de Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1901. p. 111, no. N.1, pl. 8.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of Oriental Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1958), pp. 241–42, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Warriors and Worthies: Arms and Armor Through the Ages. New York: Atheneum, 1969. p. 90, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Arms and Armor Through the Ages. Revised ed. London: Collins, 1971. p. 90, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Ullstein-Waffenbuch: eine kulturhistorische Waffenkunde mit Markenverzeichnis. Berlin: Ullstein, 1974. p. 83, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V., and Stuart W. Pyhrr. Arms & Armor: Essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920–1964. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. pp. 443–45, fig. 109.1.
Atil, Esin. The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987. pp. 85, 87, no. 65, ill.
Miller, Yuri. "Nogle Typer af Orientalske Hjelme fra det 16. og 17. Århundrede og Deres Europæske Efterligninger." Vaabenhistoriske Aarbøger (2006), pp. 30, 63–64.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. "Armor for America: The Duc de Dino Collection." Metropolitan Museum Journal, (2012), p. 195, fig. 25.
Alexander, David, Stuart W. Pyhrr, and Will Kwiatkowski. Islamic Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. pp. 95–98, no. 33, ill.
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