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Breastplate (body armour): HEN.M.108-1933

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown (Probably)

Entities

Categories

Description

Breastplate for infantry or light cavalry use by a man of large girth. Of rounded, medially-ridge form, projecting forward over the belly. The shallow neck-opening has a bold, angular, inward turn. The arm-openings are each pierced at their upper and lower ends with rivet-holes for the attachment of missing moveable gussets. The lower edge of the breastplate is pierced near its outer ends with rivet-holes for the attachment of a missing waist-plate. The top of the right shoulder is pierced with a pair of later wiring-holes. The top of the left shoulder may have been similarly pierced, but is now broken away. A prominent threaded stud is riveted just below the centre of the neck. The thread is hand-cut and possibly contemporary. It may have been for bolting on a reinforce or the lower edge of a helmet or face-defence.

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: 21.5 cm
Height: 32.1 cm
Weight: 2.294 kg
Width: 40.6 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

16th Century, Early#
Circa 1510 CE - 1520 CE

Note

Bright with heavy pitting overall, and rust perforations at the centre of the turn at the neck and at the left side.

Probably German, in the Western European fashion

Components of the work

Breastplate
Parts

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammered : Of rounded, medially-ridged form, projecting forward over the belly; hammered, shaped, riveted
Formed

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.108-1933
Primary reference Number: 18574
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 11 January 2023 Last processed: Thursday 7 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) "Breastplate (body armour)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/18574 Accessed: 2024-11-08 17:57:54

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/18574 |title=Breastplate (body armour) |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-08 17:57:54|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-18574

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