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Breastplate (body armour): HEN.M.21A-1933

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Breastplate, for use by an harquebusier. Formed in one piece with a narrow, upward-flanged neck-opening, and a short flange at the waist. It is medially-ridged and dips down at the centre of the waist. Its arm and neck-openings have plain inward turns. The turn at the neck-opening is cracked and damaged at the left side. A later wiring-hole is pierced at each side of the neck-opening. A mushroom-shaped stud, to engage the shoulder-straps of the backplate, is riveted high up at each side of the chest. The left side of the breastplate is struck with the proof-mark of a bullet. Part of the incomplete half-armour HEN.M.21A-C-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: 17.0 cm
Height: 39.0 cm
Weight: 4.09 kg
Width: 34.5 cm

Place(s) associated

  • London ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

17th Century#
Circa 1640 - 1650

Note

English; London

The breastplate is heavily pitted and patinated to a russet colour.

Components of the work

Breastplate
Parts

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammering : Formed in one piece with a narrow, upward-flanged neck-opening, and a short flange at the waist; hammered, shaped, riveted, medially-ridged
Patinating
Forming

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: indistinct mark, possibly consisting of a pair of initials of which the second can be read as C

  • Text: C
  • Location: Just below the centre of the neck-opening
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: proof-mark of a bullet

  • Location: Left side of breastplate
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Mark

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.21A-1933
Primary reference Number: 18071

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Thursday 30 June 2016

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) "Breastplate (body armour)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18071 Accessed: 2024-04-26 10:31:57

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/18071 |title=Breastplate (body armour) |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-26 10:31:57|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-18071

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