Production: Unknown
A pair of pauldrons and vambraces, for use by a cuirassier. The pauldrons are each formed of eight lames that overlap outwards from the fifth. The first to fifth lames extend inwards over the chest and the back. The fifth lame is expanded downwards to the level of the bottom of the sixth lame at the front, and the bottom of the seventh lame at the rear. The expanded portions have rounded lower inner corners and are flanged outwards at their outer edges where they overlap the lames beneath them which extend only to the inside of the arm. The fourth to fifth lames are connected to one another at their outer ends by modern rivets. The fifth to eighth lames are connected to one another and to the turner beneath them by three modern internal leathers secured by pairs of rivets. The central leather was originally extended upwards to the first lame. The rivets that connect the front ends of the first to fifth lames appear to have been supplemented at various points by a further internal leather. The apex of the first lame of each pauldron is pierced with a large rectangular hole above a modern, single-ended, tongued, iron buckle with a roller, that served to suspend the pauldron from a strap that issued from each side of a collar.
The vambraces are each formed of a tubular turner, a tubular upper cannon, a winged bracelet couter of five lames, and a tubular lower cannon. The turner is closed by an overlapped and riveted join at its rear. Its lower edge is bordered by a raised rib, the hollowed underside of which locks over and rotates on the outward-flanged upper edge of the upper cannon. The upper cannon is closed by an overlapped and riveted join at its rear. Its lower edge has a plain outward turn at the inside of the elbow when it is cut away in a concave curve. The couter is formed of five lames that overlap outwards from the third which completely encircles the arm and is closed at the rear by an overlapped and riveted join. The third lame is strongly shaped to the point of the elbow and expands to a moderately large wing at both the front and the rear. The lames of the couter are connected to one another and to the upper and lower cannons by round-headed rivets with octagonal internal washers. On the left vambrace, some of the round-headed rivets have been replaced with externally-flush rivets. The tapering tubular lower cannons are in each case formed of an inner and an outer plate: the former fitting within the latter. The inner and outer plates are connected to one another at the rear by an internal hinge, and fastened to one another at the front by a plain circular stud that is riveted to the inner plate and engages a hole in the outer plate. The inner plate has a plain inward turn at its upper edge where it is cut away in a concave curve. The main edges of the pauldrons and vambraces have plain inward turns bordered by pairs of incised lines. Pairs of incised lines also border the secondary edges of the pauldrons and vambraces. Part of the composite three-quarter armour HEN.M.18A-F-1933.
History note: Probably in the Stafford Collection sold by Christies, London, 28-30 May 1885, Lot 74 for £29. Subsequently in the Amherst Collection, sold by Christies, London, 11 December 1908, Lot 56, 32 gns. Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex.
J.S. Henderson Bequest
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart
17th Century#
Circa
1620
CE
-
1630
CE
From the freshness of their incised lines and differences in both their internal and external corrosion, it would appear that the sixth lame of each pauldron is restored. The elements above and below these lames are likely to be associated with one another. This view is encouraged by the discontinuity in the alignment of the rivets for the front leather of the right pauldron. It is nevertheless likely that the pauldrons and vambraces are made up of elements of the same series of armours. The close helmet forming part of the composite armour catalogued here may also have derived from that series of armours.
The armour has a russet finish over a variably-pitted surface that may originally have been either bright or 'black from the hammer'.
Internal Leathers
composed of
leather
( modern)
Buckle
composed of
iron (metal)
Left
Depth 22.0 cm
Height 66.0 cm
Weight 2.71 kg
Width 27.0 cm
Right
Weight 2.6 kg
Decoration
Lower Cannons
Parts
Hammering
: The pauldrons are each formed of eight lames that overlap outwards from the fifth, the vambraces are each formed of a tubular turner, a tubular upper cannon, a winged bracelet couter of five lames, and a tubular lower cannon; hammered, shaped, riveted, hinged, decorated with incised lines
Forming
Accession number: HEN.M.18E-1933
Primary reference Number: 18017
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Pauldrons" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18017 Accessed: 2024-12-22 20:13:52
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18017
|title=Pauldrons
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 20:13:52|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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