The great weight of this extraordinary helmet and shield (over thirteen pounds each) indicates that they were never intended to be worn. They must have served a purely decorative function, perhaps as part of an ornamental panoply of arms that graced some rich interior.
The bronze helmet bowl and shield were silvered and patinated to look like blued steel. Finely crafted ormolu (gilt bronze) mounts were cast separately and attached individually to them. The mounts are equal in quality to the best ormolu furniture mounts made in Paris around 1760, when Neoclassical design was superseding Rococo. Rather than the work of an armorer, this helmet and shield were probably designed by an artist and made by a craftsman or workshop that produced furniture mounts and other decorative bronze objects.
By the eighteenth century, the purpose of armor was chiefly symbolic. Armor based on Classical prototypes invoked the heroic qualities of ancient Greece and Rome. Representations of such armor were widely used in painting, the decorative arts, and the theater.
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Title:Helmet and Shield in the Classical Style
Date:probably ca. 1760–70
Culture:French, Paris
Medium:Bronze, silver, gold, silk, metallic yarn
Dimensions:H. 15 in. ( 38.1 cm); W. 8 15/16 in. ( 22.7 cm); D. 13 1/8 in. (33.3 cm); Wt. 13 lb. 6 oz. (6067 g)
Classification:Helmets
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1904
Accession Number:04.3.259–.260
Ex coll.: M. Joyeau; Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino,ParisCharles Maurice Camille de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, Paris (until 1904; sold to MMA).
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 15–March 18, 1953, no. 12.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 18–June 7, 1953, no. 12.
Pittsburgh. Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1953–April 1954, no. 12.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "In the Presence of Kings: Royal Treasures from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 19–September 4, 1967.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971, no. 301.
Bordeaux. Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. "Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York: De Ramses a Picasso," May 15–September 1, 1981, nos. 100–101.
Miami. Center for the Fine Arts. "In Quest of Excellence," January 12—April 22, 1984, no. 64.
New Orleans. Louisiana State Museum. "The Sun King: Louis XIV and the New World," April 29–November 18, 1984, nos. 150–151.
Washington, D.C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "The Sun King: Louis XIV and the New World," December 15, 1984–April 7, 1985, nos. 150–151.
Hôtel Drouot. Catalogue d'Objets d'Art et de Curiosité... Collection Complète de Minéralogie. Paris: Hôtel Drouot, January 27–28, 1845. no. 113.
Bonnefons de Lavialle and Bonnefons de Lavialle. Catalogue d'objets d'art... du Sieur Joyeau... Vente 5 Déc. 1849. Paris, December 5–8, 1849. no. 90 (04.3.259).
Cosson, Charles Alexander. Le Cabinet d'Armes de Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1901. p. 109, nos. M.7, M.8, pl. 23.
Dean, Bashford, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of European Arms and Armor. Hand-book (Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)), Vol. 15. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1905. p. 116, fig. 53.
Laking, Guy Francis, Charles A. de Cosson, and Francis Henry Cripps-Day. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries. Vol. IV. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1920–1922. pp. 191–192, fig. 1267.
Grancsay, Stephen V. Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1953. p. 12, no. 12, ill.
Thomas, Bruno, Ortwin Gamber, and Hans Schedelmann. Die schönsten Waffen und Rüstungen aus europäischen und amerikanischen Sammlungen. Heidelberg; Munich: Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1963. no. 85, ill.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Kenneth Clark. Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1970. pp. 58, 271, no. 301, ill.
Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. Profil Du Metropolitan Museum of Art De New York: De Ramsès À Picasso; [exposition] 15 Mai–1er Sept. 1981. [Paris?], 1981. pp. 24, 83–84, nos. 100–101, ill.
Reinhardt, Steven G. The Sun King: Louis XIV and the New World: an Exhibition. New Orleans: Louisiana Museum Foundation, 1984. pp. 15, 271, nos. 150–151, ill.
Marck, Jan van der. In Quest of Excellence: Civic Pride, Patronage, Connoisseurship. Miami: Center for the Fine Arts, 1984. p. 132, front cover, no. 64, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. "Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 1991), pp. 33, 64, ill.
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