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Backplate (body armour): HEN.M.3E-1933

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Backplate with skirt for light field use, decorated with bands in the 'black and white' fashion. Formed of a main plate, a pair of side-plates, and a waist-plate with integral skirt. The main plate is shaped to the shoulder. Its vertical lateral edges bisect the arm-openings. They overlap the side-plates which are in each instance attached to them by modern round-headed rivets with octagonal internal washers. The broad, shallow neck-opening of the main plate is cusped at its centre. Attached within the lower edge of the main plate and the side-plates by five round-headed rivets with octagonal internal washers, is a separate waist-plate which is flanged outward to form a short skirt. The lower edge of the skirt is cusped at its centre and at each side. The arm-openings, the neck-openings and the lower edge of the skirt have file-roped inward turns. Attached at each shoulder by a single round-headed rivet with an octagonal internal washer is a modern leather shoulder-strap. Attached by similar rivets and washers midway along each side-plate is a modern leather strap forming a waist-belt. The broken left strap terminates in a modern double-ended iron buckle, lacking its tongue. The main plate and side-plates are decorated with recessed, bright bands and borders against a blackened ground in the 'black and white' fashion. The border at the neck is of ogee form, and the lateral vertical bands are medially-ridged. The waist-plate and its skirt are decorated with raised, bright bands and recessed bright borders against a blackened ground. Part of the composite half armour HEN.M.3A-E-1933

Notes

History note: Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex

Legal notes

J.S. Henderson Bequest

Measurements and weight

Depth: 20.4 cm
Height: 41.5 cm
Weight: 2.08 kg
Width: 37.0 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart

Dating

16th Century
Production date: AD 1570

Note

Differences in the style of its decoration, suggest that the waist-plate and its skirt are associated with the main plate and its side-plates.

South Germany, Nuremberg

The bright bands of the backplate show a light to medium patination. The intervening blackened areas are worn through to bright metal at some points.

Components of the work

Buckle composed of iron (metal)
Straps composed of leather
Bands
Borders
Decoration
Parts
Vertical Bands

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammering : Formed of a main plate, a pair of side-plates, and a waist-plate with integral skirt; hammered, shaped, riveted, with banded decoration in 'black and white' fashion
Forming

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.3E-1933
Primary reference Number: 17723
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Thursday 7 January 2016 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Backplate (body armour)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/17723 Accessed: 2024-11-08 18:00:13

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/17723 |title=Backplate (body armour) |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-08 18:00:13|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-17723

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