Skip to main content

Gauntlet: HEN.M.20H-1933

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Gauntlet for the right hand, of fingered form, for light field use without a vambrace. Formed of a long, flared cuff, five metacarpal plates, a knuckle-plate, a finger-plate, four scaled finger-defences and a hinged, scaled thumb-defence. The cuff is formed of an outer plate and a considerably shorter inner plate. The latter is riveted within the former. The outer plate is medially-ridged and rises at its upper edge to a pronounced central point. The upper edge of the cuff has a file-roped inward turn accompanied by a recessed border containing eleven lining-rivets. A twelfth lining-rivet is lost from the apex of the outer plate. The lower edge of the inner plate has a plain inward turn. Riveted within each side of the lower end of the outer plate is a leather strap to fasten the gauntlet around the inside of the wrist. The shorter front strap, which terminates in a single-ended tongued iron buckle, is broken. The lower edge of the outer plate is overlapped by a series of five medially-ridged, upward-overlapping lames that are decorated with V-shaped nicks at their centres. The lowest metacarpal-plate is overlapped by a knuckle-plate decorated with a file-roped transverse rib of boxed form. The lower edge of the knuckle-plate overlaps a finger-plate which is shaped to the fingers. The cuff, the metacarpal-plates, the knuckle-plate and the finger-plate are connected to one another at their outer ends by round-headed rivets with circular internal washers. Riveted within the finger-plate are four finger-defences formed of between six and seven medially-ridged scales riveted to underlying leather strips. The last two scales of the first finger-defence are rigidly riveted to one another to compensate for the loss of the leathers at that point. Attached by a hinge to the front edge of the gauntlet is a thumb-defence of four medially-ridged, downward-overlapping scales. The hinge is secured to the gauntlet by the rivet that connects the fourth and fifth metacarpal-plates to one another. The upper scale of the main-plate of the thumb defence is of lozenge-shaped form with a notched upper end and a truncated lower end. The thumb-defence is probably restored. Part of the composite armour HEN.M.20A-H-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: 12.5 cm
Height: 40.7 cm
Weight: 0.69 kg
Width: 13.7 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Nuremburg

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

16th Century, Late
Circa 1580 CE - 1590 CE

Note

South German

The gauntlet is bright with a light to medium patination overall.

Components of the work

Strap composed of leather ( fragments)
Underlying Strips composed of leather ( fragments)
Buckle composed of iron (metal)
Cuff, Border
Cuff, Decoration
Cuff, Outer Plate
Finger-defences
Knuckle-plate
Lames
Parts
Thumb-defence

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammering : Formed of a long, medially-ridged, flared cuff with nicks and recessed decoration, five metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate with a transverse rib and file-roped decoration, a finger-plate, four scaled, medially-ridged, finger-defences and a hinged, scaled, medially-ridged thumb-defence; hammered, shaped, riveted
Forming

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.20H-1933
Primary reference Number: 18060
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 28 February 2017 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) "Gauntlet" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18060 Accessed: 2024-11-22 04:41:45

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/18060 |title=Gauntlet |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 04:41:45|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-18060

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...