Production: Unknown
Two long tassets nearly forming a pair, for infantry use, extending to just above the knees. Each formed of six upward-overlapping lames of which the sixth is considerably deeper than the rest and has a strongly convex lower edge. The lames are transversely curved. The curvature increases towards the lower end of the tasset. The inner ends of the first and second lames are cut away in a shallow, concave curve. They and the lower edge of the sixth lame are decorated with file-roped inward turns. The inner ends of the fourth and sixth lames of the left tasset are decorated with single incised lines, possibly representing the remains of borders that have subsequently been cut away. The lower corners of the first to fifth lames are either cropped or rounded. The lames are connected to one another at their outer ends by modern, round-headed sliding-rivets with either circular or octagonal internal washers. The lames were formerly connected to one another at their centres and inner ends by internal leathers secured to the first to fifth lames by single externally-flush rivets, and to the sixth lame by pairs of round-headed rivets with circular internal washers, except at the centre of the sixth lame of the left tasset where only a single round-headed rivet and circular internal washer is employed. The modern leathers are incomplete at the upper end of the centre of the right tasset and represented only by fragments on the left tasset. The surviving fragments show that the modern leathers were in each case secured to the sixth lame by a single rivet and internal washer. In those cases where the leather was originally secured by a pair of rivets, the unused hole has been plugged by a round-headed rivet without an internal washer. To compensate for the loss of the inner leather of the left tasset, the lames of that tasset have been rigidly secured to one another by modern pan-headed rivets that pass through the holes for the leathering-rivets and overlying construction-holes. The construction-holes of the right tasset are occupied by modern, purely decorative, round-headed rivets. The inner ends of the fifth and sixth lames of the right tasset were at some time rigidly riveted to one another, as were the inner ends of the second and third lames, the fourth and fifth lames, and the fifth and sixth lames of the left tassets. The later holes for the rivets are now vacant. Secured by a single rivet at either end of the first lames of each tasset is a modern, double-edged, tongued, iron buckle with an iron hasp. The rivets are flat-headed, except in the case of that which secures the inner buckle of the right tasset, which is externally-flush. The buckles vary considerably in their individual form and detail. Each tasset may at one time have been equipped with a third buckle, now represented only by a vacant rivet-hole located midway between the two buckles now present. Rivet-holes located just above and to the inside of each of the buckles of the right tasset, just above and just below and to the outside of the outer buckle of the left tasset probably represent the former attachment-points of suspension-buckles. The holes located just above and to the inside of the outer buckle of the right tasset, just below the inner buckle of the left tasset, and just below and to the outside of the outer buckle of the left tasset are now plugged with externally-flush rivets. Secured by a round-headed rivet within the outer end of the sixth lame of each tasset is a single-ended, tongued, iron buckle with an elaborately filed rectangular loop and a rectangular hasp with cropped corners. The buckle at one time served to receive a strap riveted within the inner end of the same lame. A fragment of the modern strap is secured by a round-headed rivet with a circular internal washer. Part of the composite armour HEN.M.9A-K-1933
History note: 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
16th Century, Late
Production date:
circa
AD 1580
South German
The tassets are bright with a light patination overall, and some patches of heavier pitting and patination. The interior of the fifth lame of the left tasset shows extensive delamination of the surface of its metal. The exterior of the third lame of the right tasset also shows some delamination of the metal at its outer end.
The two tassets did not originally form a pair. The left tasset is of cruder make than the right tasset. Its sliding rivets are set much closer to the outer edge than those of the latter, and its outer leather was secured to the sixth lame by a single rivet rather than the pair of rivets that originally secured the corresponding leather of the latter. The left tasset has been reworked to make it match the right. The alterations include the removal of a recessed border at its lower edge, the cutting of its inner edges and the reworking of the turned edges at the inner ends of the first and second lames, and the lower, inner corner of the sixth lame.
Buckles, Hasps
composed of
iron (metal)
( modern)
Leathers
composed of
leather
( modern)
Right Tasset
Depth 7.2 cm
Height 36.7 cm
Weight 0.85 kg
Width 20.3 cm
Left Tasset
Depth 7.9 cm
Height 37.0 cm
Weight 0.68 kg
Width 19.4 cm
Decoration
Parts
Hammering
: Each formed of six upward-overlapping lames of which the sixth is considerably deeper than the rest and has a strongly convex lower edge; hammered, shaped, riveted, with incised decoration
Patinating
Forming
Inscription present: possibly a letter D turned on its side
Inscription present: marked internally with an X
Accession number: HEN.M.9E-1933
Primary reference Number: 17769
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) "Tassets" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17769 Accessed: 2024-11-02 18:24:11
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|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 18:24:11|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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