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Breastplate (body armour): HEN.M.114-1933

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 31 (Armoury)

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown (Probably)

Entities

Categories

Description

Breastplate, for light field use, decorated in the 'black and white' fashion. Formed of a medially-ridged main plate projecting forward to a point over the belly and fitted with movable gussets at the arm-openings. The broad, slightly concave neck-opening and the gussets have file-roped inward turns. The gussets at the arm-openings are secured to the main plate by a pair of round-headed rivets with octagonal internal washers at their upper and lower ends. The upper ones move within diagonal slots cut within the gussets. The top right rivet and its washer are modern replacements. Attached within the upper end of each gusset by an externally-flush rivet is a double-ended, tongued, rectangular, iron buckle with simple incised decoration and a plain hasp with cropped corner. The left buckle lacks its tongue. The lower edge of the main plate is flanged outwards to receive a skirt. Each end of the flange is pierced with a rivet-hole for the attachment of the missing skirt. Later wiring-holes are pierced at the lower end of each gusset and at each side of the waist.
The main plate is decorated with a recessed border of ogee form at the neck, a recessed band at the waist, and eight narrow, recessed bands between them. In addition, the upper part of the main plate is decorated between the central two vertical bands with a recessed chevron.

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: 18.7 cm
Height: 29.7 cm
Weight: 2.21 kg
Width: 37.5 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Nuremburg

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

16th Century, Mid#
Production date: circa AD 1560

Note

South German, Nuremberg

The breastplate has a ' black from the hammer' finish, now partly oxidised to a russet colour, with bright bands, borders and gussets showing medium pitting and patination.

This breastplate was made in the fashionable shape of the middle of the 16th century and is decorated in a style which has become known as the ‘black and white’ fashion with alternate bright and dark areas.

Components of the work

Buckles composed of iron (metal)
Bands
Border
Main Plate
Parts

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammered : Formed of a medially-ridged main plate projecting forward to a point over the belly with moveable gussets at the arm-openings; hammered, shaped, riveted, the main plate is decorated with recessed bands and border in the 'black and white' fashion
Formed

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.114-1933
Primary reference Number: 18591
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 13 April 2021 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/18591 Accessed: 2024-12-23 08:16:09

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/18591 |title=Breastplate (body armour) |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 08:16:09|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-18591

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