Skip to main content

Pot helmet: HEN.M.101-1933

Object information

Awaiting location update

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown (Style of)

Entities

Categories

Description

Pot helmet, for use by an harquebusier. Formed of a skull, a pivoted peak with a triple-bar face-defence, a neck-guard of two upward-overlapping lames, and a pair of pendant cheek-pieces. The deep, hemispherical skull is of great weight, and rises to a low medial ridge. Its lower edge is pierced with numerous holes for lining-rivets, some of which are occupied by round-headed rivets. The moderately broad, flat, pointed peak is formed in two pieces: a brow-plate with backward-projecting arms, and the peak proper with a flanged rear edge that is riveted within the former. Riveted within the underside of the peak is a face-defence formed of three vertical bars of square section that curve in towards one another at their lower end where they are united in a hammer-welded quadrangular point. The right bar has broken through at its point of union. The break shows evidence of an untidy soldered repair that has itself broken. The obtusely-pointed lower edge of the neck-defence is embossed with a series of simulated round-headed lining-rivets. The cheek-pieces, which are each suspended from the lower edge of the skull by a pair of internal leathers , have convex front and rear edges that converge at their lower ends. They are each pierced at their centres with seven circular ventilation-holes in rosette-formation. The front edge of the peak and the lower edge of the neck-defence have plain inward turns. The lateral edges of the cheek-pieces and the neck-defence have plain partial inward turns.

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: 33.7 cm
Height: 39.7 cm
Weight: 4.44 kg
Width: 26.6 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

20th Century, Early
Production date: circa AD 1900 : about 1900; in the style of about 1650

Note

The helmet is painted black over a pitted surface.

The skull is conceivably from a genuine helmet for siege use, probably made no earlier than the end of the 17th century.

Components of the work

Internal Leathers composed of leather
Cheek-pieces
Neck-defence
Parts
Skull

Materials used in production

Steel

Techniques used in production

Hammered : Formed of a low medially-ridged skull, a pivoted peak with a triple-bar face-defence, a neck-guard of two upward-overlapping lames, and a pair of pendant cheek-pieces, pierced with ventilation-holes; hammered, shaped, riveted, with embossed neck-defence
Painting
Formed

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.101-1933
Primary reference Number: 18553
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 14 January 2014 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) "Pot helmet" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18553 Accessed: 2024-03-29 10:37:42

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/18553 |title=Pot helmet |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-29 10:37:42|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-18553

More objects and works of art you might like

Honey pot

Accession Number: C.306 & A-1928

Helmet

Accession Number: GR.B.6

Helmet

Accession Number: GR.1.1896

Helmet

Accession Number: GR.B.5

Suggested products from Curating Cambridge

You might be interested in this...

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...