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Gauntlets: HEN.M.16F-1933

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Armourer: Schneider, Martin

Entities

Categories

Description

A pair of elbow gauntlets, for light field use. Each formed of an elbow-length, slightly flared, tubular cuff, three downward-overlapping wrist-plates, five upward-overlapping metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate, four scaled finger-defences, and a hinged, scaled thumb-defence. The cuff, which is strongly shaped to the point of the elbow, is formed of a medially-ridged outer plate and a considerably shorter inner plate. The latter is riveted within the former. The upper edge of the cuff has a plain inward turn accompanied by a recessed border. The knuckle-plate and the lower edge of the fifth metacarpal-plate are each shaped to the knuckles. The cuff, the wrist-plates, the metacarpal-plates and the knuckle-plate are connected to one another by rivets at their outer ends. The finger defences are each formed of between four and five medially-ridged, upward-overlapping scales, of which the last has a rounded end and is incised with a line representing the base of a fingernail. Attached by broad leather hinge to the front end of the metacarpal-plates and the third wrist-plate is a scaled thumb-defence of nine upward-overlapping scales.
The thumb-defence is of lozenge-shape, reaching its widest point at the top of its sixth lame, but otherwise matches the finger-scales. The outer plate of the cuff is decorated medially with a band of incised chevrons enclosed by a pair of incised lines, and in its upper band with a series of diagonal incised lines. The secondary edges of the gauntlet are bordered by pairs of incised lines. The gauntlets retain their original buff-leather lining-gloves, and are fitted at the lower ends of their cuffs with modern straps and buckles that fasten across the insides of the wrist. Part of the composite half armour HEN.M.16A-F-1933.

Notes

History note: Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex.

Legal notes

J.S. Henderson Bequest

Place(s) associated

  • Nuremburg

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

17th Century, Early#
Circa 1600 CE - 1610 CE

Note

The gauntlets are bright with a medium patination overall. Their incised decoration is now much worn. It may originally have been cut through with a blued finish.

Components of the work

Lining-gloves composed of leather ( original)
Hinge composed of leather
Left Gauntlet Depth 14.4 cm Height 50.7 cm Weight 1.04 kg Width 14.0 cm
Right Gauntlet Depth 14.5 cm Height 50.5 cm Weight 1.11 kg Width 13.7 cm
Border
Cuff Outer Plate
Decoration
Parts
Scales
Thumb-defence

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammering : Each formed of an elbow-length, slightly flared, tubular, medially-ridged cuff with a recessed border, three downward-overlapping wrist-plates, five upward-overlapping metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate, four scaled, medially-ridged finger-defences, and a hinged, scaled thumb-defence; hammered, shaped, riveted, decorated with incised lines and chevrons
Patinating
Forming

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: quality control mark of the City of Nuremberg, and the maker's mark of Martin Schneider, the initials MS over a pair of shears within an escutcheon

  • Text: MS
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Mark

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.16F-1933
Primary reference Number: 17985
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 28 February 2017 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) "Gauntlets" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17985 Accessed: 2024-11-05 16:37:09

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17985 |title=Gauntlets |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 16:37:09|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-17985

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