Pot helmet, for use by an harquebusier. Formed of a skull, a pivoted peak with triple-bar face-defence, a neck-defence of two lames, and a pair of pendant cheek-pieces. The hemispherical skull is formed in two halves joined by a turn to the left along a low medial comb. The moderately broad, slightly downturned and obtusely-pointed peak is fitted on its underside with a face-defence formed of three bars of square section that are joined together in a forward-projecting scroll under the chin. The neck-defence is formed of two lames of which the longer upper one is embossed to simulate three lames. The cheek-pieces, which are now detached, have curved front and rear edges that converge towards their lower end where they are fitted with leather loops forming the ends of the lining-bands. The skull and neck-defence retain fragments of a fabric lining-band. The main edges of the helmet have plain inward turns accompanied, in the case of the peak and the neck-defence, by recessed borders.
History note: A detached wooden tag states that the helmet was acquired from the Tower of London Armoury, 1926. Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex.
J.S. Henderson Bequest
Depth: 33.5 cm
Height: 31.2 cm
Weight: 1.98 kg
Width: 23.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart
17th Century, Mid#
Production date:
circa
AD 1640
English, probably London
The helmet is painted black over heavy pitting.
This type of helmet was used by horsemen armed with short firearms called harquebusiers and was very common during the British Civil Wars of the 1640s. The ‘tail’ at the rear has also given rise to the name ‘lobster-tail pot’. It would originally have had cheekpieces on either side from which a ribbon or lace would have secured it to the head.
Lining-bands
composed of
cloth
Loops
composed of
leather
Borders
Neck-defence
Parts
Hammered
: Formed of a skull, a pivoted peak with triple-bar face-defence, a neck-defence of two lames, and a pair of pendant cheek-pieces; hammered, shaped, riveted, with embossed neck-defence and recessed borders
Painting
Formed
Accession number: HEN.M.102-1933
Primary reference Number: 18556
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) "Pot helmet" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18556 Accessed: 2024-11-15 15:42:33
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18556
|title=Pot helmet
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-15 15:42:33|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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