Production: Unknown
Backplate with skirt, for field use. Formed of a main plate, weakly shaped to the shoulder-blades, and a skirt of one lame. The nearly straight neck-opening and the arm-openings of the main plate have file-roped inward turns accompanied by a recessed border. Attached by a pair of externally-flush rivets within each of the upper corners of the main plate is a modern, buff leather shoulder-strap with a bifurcated proximal end. Attached by a round-headed rivet with a circular external rosette washer and a circular, internal washer at each side of the waist is a modern leather strap that serves as a waist-belt. The rosette washers are decorated with punched hatching. The left strap terminates in a modern double-ended, tongued, iron buckle with a rounded hasp secured by a single round-headed rivet. The buckle has a rectangular distal loop and a D-shaped proximal loop decorated with file-roping. A later hole pierced at the centre of the upper border of the main plate has subsequently been plugged with an externally-flush rivet. Later wiring-holes are pierced at the centre of the waist and the lower end of each arm-opening. The lower edge of the main plate is flanged outwards to receive the skirt of one lame. The upper edge of the lame is decorated with a pair of modern incised lines. Its nearly straight lower edge is decorated with a file-roped inward turn accompanied by a recessed border. Each end of the border is pierced with a later large, circular hole, possibly for wiring-purposes. The skirt-lame is attached to the flange of the main plate at each side by a single, modern round-headed rivet with an octagonal internal washer. Part of the composite three-quarter armour HEN.M.11A-H-1933
History note: Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex
J.S. Henderson Bequest
Depth: 16.3 cm
Height: 41.6 cm
Weight: 1.49 kg
Width: 38.4 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart
16th Century, Mid#
Production date:
circa
AD 1550
South Germany
The backplate and skirt are bright with a medium and partly mottled patination overall. Their surfaces show extensive scoring resulting from mechanical cleaning.
The incised lines that decorate the upper edge of the skirt-lame have been added in modern times to make the backplate match other elements of the composite armour into which it was incorporated.
Buckle
composed of
iron (metal)
( modern)
Straps
composed of
leather
( modern)
Decoration
Parts
Rosette Washers
Hammering
: Formed of a main plate, weakly shaped to the shoulder-blades, and a skirt of one lame; hammered, shaped, riveted, with file-roped decoration, incised lines, punched hatching and recessed decoration
Patinating
Forming
Inscription present: the letter D turned on its side, and another mark, possibly identifiable as the letter I
Accession number: HEN.M.11D-1933
Primary reference Number: 17807
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) "Backplate (body armour)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17807 Accessed: 2024-12-22 22:27:22
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17807
|title=Backplate (body armour)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 22:27:22|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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