This armor was assembled and restored in the 1920s using individual elements that had been discovered in the ruins of the Venetian fortress at Chalcis, on the Greek island of Euboea, which had fallen to the Turks in 1470. The purpose was to present a full armor of the style worn about 1400, a period from which no complete armors survive. Distinctive features are the early form of brigandine (a torso defense constructed of numerous overlapping plates riveted inside a doublet) with two large breast halves and brass borders at the edges of the exposed plates. Portions of the brass at the top edge of the left cuisse (thigh defense), the lower edges of the right greave (lower leg defense), and the visor are genuine; the remainder is restored. The helmet, a visored bascinet, is associated with the armor. The velvet covering of the brigandine dates from the early 20th century.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Front
Back
3/4 Right
Outer side of gauntlets
Left thigh and knee defense (n)
Arm defenses (j, k)
Right greave (p)
Left pauldron (i)
Mark on right greave (p)
Front
Helmet, left profile
Artwork Details
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Title:Armor
Date:ca. 1400–1450 and later
Culture:Italian
Medium:Steel, copper alloy, textile, leather
Dimensions:H. 66 1/2 in. (168.9 cm), Wt. 41 lb. (18.6 kg)
Classification:Armor for Man
Credit Line:Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Gift of Helen Fahnestock Hubbard, in memory of her father, Harris C. Fahnestock, 1929
Object Number:29.154.3
Marking: The right breastplate is stamped near the lower edge three times in a horizontal row: a horned cow's head surmounted by a crown.
Bashford Dean, New York (until d. 1928; sold to MMA through his estate, 1929).
Innsbruck. Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum. "Die Innsbrucker Plattnerkunst," June 26–September 30, 1954, no. 4 (Right greave only, about 1460, bears mark of Konrad Treytz d. A.).
Ffoulkes, Charles J. "Italian Armour from Chalcis in the Ethnological Museum at Athens." Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity 62, no. 2 pp. 381–90, ill.
Gessler, Eduard A. "Die ritterliche Bewaffnung von 1386 zur Zeit de Schlacht von Sempach." Zeitschrift für historische Waffenkunde, Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 6 pp. 190–211 (armor of this period discussed).
Gessler, Eduard A. "Bildliche Darstellungen der ritterlichen Bewaffnung zur Zeit der Schlacht von Sempach 1386." Anzeiger für Schweizerische Altertumskunde (1914), pp. 325–41 (armor of this period discussed).
Dean, Bashford. "Early Gothic Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1925), pp. 132–34, fig. 2.
Thordeman, Bengt. "Die Kriegergräber von Korsbetningen bei Visby." Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen– und Kostümkunde, Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 11, n.s.v. 2 pp. 129–40 (armor of this period discussed).
Trapp, Oswald, and James G. Mann. The Armoury of the Castle of Churburg. London: Methuen, 1929. pp. 16–32 (armor of this period discussed).
Dean, Bashford, and Robert T. Nichol. Handbook of Arms and Armor : European and Oriental, edited by Stephen V. Grancsay. 4th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 1930. fig. 36.
Kelly, Francis Michael. "Pre-Gothic Cuirasses of Plate." Apollo (1930), pp. 37–43 (armor of this period discussed).
Kelly, Francis Michael, and Randolph Schwabe. A Short History of Costume & Armour: Chiefly in England, 1066–1800. Vol. 1. London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1931. pl. XXVIII.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Stephen V. Grancsay, and Carl Otto von Kienbusch. The Bashford Dean Collection of Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Portland, ME: Southworth Press for the Armor and Arms Club of New York City, 1933. pp. 51–55, no. 1, pl. III, IX.
Louchheim, Aline B. "Five Thousand Years of Art." In Art News Annual 1945–46 (Diamond Jubilee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). 1945–46. p. 31.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The Interrelationships of Costume and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (February 1950), p. 178–79, ill.
Thomas, Bruno, and Ortwin Gamber. Die Innsbrucker Plattnerkunst. Innsbruck: Tyrolia Verlag, 1954. no. 4 (right greave only).
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of European Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1956), p. 209, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Arms and Armor. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. p. 6, fig. 10.
Peterson, Harold L. The Treasury of the Gun. New York: Golden Press, 1962. p. 20, fig. 1.
Blackmore, Howard. Arms and Armour. Dutton Vista Pictureback. London: Studio Vista, 1965. pp. 18–19, ill.
Boccia, Lionello G., and Eduardo T. Coelho. L'Arte dell'Armatura in Italia. Milan: Bramante Editrice, 1967. pp. 119, 131, pls. 46–47, 49–51.
Nickel, Helmut. Ullstein-Waffenbuch: eine kulturhistorische Waffenkunde mit Markenverzeichnis. Berlin: Ullstein, 1974. p. 63, 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. 421–439; fig. 107.1.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. "European Armor from the Imperial Ottoman Arsenal." Metropolitan Museum Journal (1989), pp. 86, 112, n. 6.
Nickel, Helmut. "Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 1991), pp. 15, 64, ill.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. "Of Arms and Men: Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan, 1912–2012." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 2012), pp. 28–29, 40, fig. 43.
Eaves, Ian. "Two Early Examples of Armour of Proof in the Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art." In The Armorer's Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr. Woonsocket, Rhode Island: Andrew Mowbray Inc. – Publishers, 2014. pp. 39–40, ill. p. 40 (color).
Nickel, Helmut, William Reid, Ian Eaves, Mario Scalini, Claude Gaier, Álvaro Soler Del Campo, Jean-Pierre Reverseau, Jan Piet Pyupe, Donald J. La Rocca, Jeffrey Forgeng, Jonathan Tavares, Dirk H. Breiding, Pierre Terjanian, and Ronald S. Lauder. The Armorer's Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr, edited by Donald J. La Rocca. Woonsocket, Rhode Island: Andrew Mowbray Inc. – Publishers, 2014. pp. 39–40, ill. p. 40 (color).
Identify moveable and static features of armor as well as functional and symbolic surface details and examine similarities and differences between human and animal "armor" through classroom viewing questions. Enhance the lesson with a sketching activity based on an English suit of armor in The Met collection.
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