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Spanish morion: HEN.M.45-1933

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

'Spanish' morion, for infantry use, with etched decoration. Formed in one piece with an almond-shaped crown that rises to a backward-directed stalk at its apex, and a flat narrow, integral brim that projects to a rounded point front and rear. The brim has a file-roped inward turn accompanied by a narrow recessed border. The base is encircled by fourteen holes for lining-rivets, of which seven are occupied by modern rivets with flat rosette washers of brass. The helmet lacks its cheek-pieces and a plume-holder is now represented only by a pair of holes at the nape.
The crown of the helmet is decorated with four vertical bands of trophies and fabulous animals on a stippled and blackened ground, repeated in a narrow band around the base of the crown and on the brim. The band around the base of the crown is bordered at its lower edge by an even narrower band of guilloche.

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: 30.9 cm
Height: 25.1 cm
Weight: 1.38 kg
Width: 23.5 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

16th Century, Late
Circa 1580 - 1590

Note

North Italian

The helmet is bright with a variable light to medium patination overall. It has been pierced with several later holes and shows some rust perforations near the apex of the crown as well as cracks in the edge of the brim.

Components of the work

Rosette Washers composed of brass (alloy)
Border
Decoration
Ground
Parts

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammered : Formed in one piece with an almond-shaped crown that rises to a backward-directed stalk at its apex, and a flat narrow, integral brim that projects to a rounded point front and rear; hammered, shaped, riveted, with a recessed border, with etched and file-roped decoration on a blackened ground
Patinating
Forming

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: 46
  • Type: Label

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.45-1933
Primary reference Number: 18314
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 11 January 2023 Last processed: Friday 8 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) "Spanish morion" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18314 Accessed: 2024-11-22 07:15:32

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/18314 |title=Spanish morion |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 07:15:32|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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-18314

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