This especially attractive and well preserved turban helmet retains the mail aventail that protected the lower half of the face and neck. The aventail is fixed with a lead seal stamped with the mark used in the Ottoman arsenals, an indication that this example, like the other turban helmets also in the Museum's collection (acc. nos. 04.3.209, .210, .214, .457, .462; 36.25.109), passed into Turkish possession as booty with the Ottoman conquest of Iran and the Caucasus.
At least one turban helmet decorated in a style comparable to this example bears the name of Farruhk-Siar (reigned 1464–1501), ruler of Shirvan in the Caucasus. Such evidence suggests that this helmet is also of Shirvan manufacture.
This helmet was siezed by the Nazis from the collection of Baron Alphonse Mayer Rothschild (1878–1942) in Vienna in 1938 and restituted by the government of Austria to his heirs in 1949.
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Lower register, shot 1 (proper right)
Lower register, shot 2 (proper right)
Lower register, shot 3 (proper right)
Lower register, shot 4 (proper right)
Lower register, shot 5 (proper left)
Lower register, shot 6 (proper left)
Lower register, shot 7 (proper left)
Upper register, shot 1 (proper right)
Upper register, shot 2 (proper right)
Upper register, shot 3 (proper left)
Upper register, shot 4 (proper left)
Upper register, shot 5 (proper left)
Artwork Details
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Title:Helmet with Aventail
Date:late 15th–16th century
Culture:Turkish, in the style of Turkman armor
Medium:Steel, iron, silver, copper alloy
Dimensions:H. including mail 22 in. (55.9 cm); H. excluding mail 13 5/8 in. (34.6 cm); Diam. 10 in. (25.4 cm); Wt. including mail 7 lb. 6.2 oz. (3350.9 g); Wt. excluding mail 3 lb. 9 oz. (1616 g)
Classification:Helmets
Credit Line:Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 1950
Object Number:50.87
Inscription: The bottom band of the inscription is the 'Throne' or 'chair' verse from the Koran.
Marking: Stamped on a lead button on the front of the camail: the mark of the Ottoman arsenal at Constantinople.
Baron Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild, Theresianumsgasse, Vienna (until d. 1905; by inheritance to his nephew, Baron Alphonse Mayer Rothschild); Baron Alphonse Mayer Rothschild, Theresianumsgasse, Vienna (1905–1938; seized by the Nazis, March 1938, inv. no. 2798, and restituted by Austria to his widow, Baroness Clarice Rothschild, April 1949); Baroness Clarice Rothschild, Vienna (from 1949); [Ruth and Leopold Blumka, New York, until 1950; sold to MMA].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of Imperial Turkey and Its European Echoes," November 17, 1973–March 3, 1974.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arms and Armor from the Islamic World," February 10, 2016–December 3, 2017, no. 30.
Sarre, Friedrich Paul Theodor, and Eugen Mittwoch. Erzeugnisse Islamischer Kunst. Vol. 1. Berlin: Kommissionsverlag von Karl W. Hiersemann, 1906. pp. 57–58, no. 171, pl. x (a similar helmet discussed and illustrated).
Migeon, Gaston. Manuel d'Art Musulman. Vol. 2. Paris: A. Picard, 1907. p. 245, fig. 200.
Kühnel, Ernst. Islamische Kleinkunst. Bibliothek für Kunst- und Antiquitätensammler. 1st ed. Berlin: R.C. Schmidt & Co., 1925. pp. 167–68, fig. 134 (a similar helmet discussed and illustrated).
Migeon, Gaston. Les Arts Musulmans. Bibliotheque d'Histoire de l'Art. Paris and Brussels: G. van Oest et cie, 1926. pl. LI.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of Oriental Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1958), pp. 243–45, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Helmut Nickel. "The Ottoman Empire." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (January 1968), p. 219, no. 39, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Warriors and Worthies: Arms and Armor Through the Ages. New York: Atheneum, 1969. p. 91, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Arms and Armor Through the Ages. Revised ed. London: Collins, 1971. p. 91, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Ullstein-Waffenbuch: eine kulturhistorische Waffenkunde mit Markenverzeichnis. Berlin: Ullstein, 1974. p. 83, ill.
Alexander, David G. "Two Aspects of Islamic Arms and Armor." Metropolitan Museum Journal 18 p. 100, fig. 5.
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. 446–47, fig. 109.2.
Nickel, Helmut. "Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 1991), p. 50, ill.
Lillie, Sophie. Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens. Bibliothek des Raubes; Bd. 8. Vienna: Czernin, 2003. p. 1092, no. 2798.
Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, eds. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Thomas P. Campbell. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 161, ill.
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. 87–89, no. 30, ill.
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