Production: Unknown
Breastplate, for use by a cuirassier. The breastplate is made in one piece with an upstanding flange at its neck-opening and a flange at the waist. It is medially-ridged and dips down at the centre of the waist. Its arm-openings, narrow neck-opening and waist-flange have plain inward turns. The turns at the arm-openings are bordered by pairs of incised lines. Riveted low down at each shoulder is a modern mushroom-shaped stud with an oval head, intended to engage the shoulder-straps of the backplate. Two of the three holes pierced below each of them, at either side of the chest, may have served to retain pierced studs and swivel-hooks that originally engaged and secured the shoulder-straps. A modern swivel-hook riveted at each side of the breastplate serves to engage the pierced studs riveted at each side of the backplate. A later hole is pierced to the inside of each of the swivel-hooks. A modern mushroom-shaped stud for the suspension of the tassets is riveted at each side of the waist-flange. Part of the composite three-quarter armour HEN.M.17A-G-1933.
History note: Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex.
J.S. Henderson Bequest
Depth: 16.5 cm
Height: 36.5 cm
Weight: 1.15 kg
Width: 35.0 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart
17th Century#
Circa
1620
CE
-
1630
CE
The armour is bright with a variable light to medium patination overall. It has suffered some dents, buckles and cracks.
The breastplate and the backplate do not fit each other perfectly, but otherwise match each other so well that they probably derive from the same series of armours. The form of their neck opening indicates that they were intended for wear without a collar. It is conceivable that they were originally made for wear by an harquebusier together with an open-faced close helmet, pauldrons and a skirt.
Breastplate
Decoration
Parts
Hammering
: The medially-ridged breastplate is made in one piece with an upstanding flange at its neck-opening and a flange at the waist; hammered, shaped, riveted, with incised decoration
Patinating
Forming
Accession number: HEN.M.17C-1933
Primary reference Number: 17993
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) "Breastplate (body armour)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17993 Accessed: 2024-11-22 07:16:10
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/17993
|title=Breastplate (body armour)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 07:16:10|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-17993
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...