Morion-Burgonet

Culture Southern German , probably Augsburg

Date1585

Mediumetched steel, blackened and fire-gilt, and brass

Dimensions31 × 29 × 23 cm (12 3/16 × 11 7/16 × 9 1/16 in.)
3 lb, 10 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsEtched on a banderole on the anterior left of the comb is the date "1585." This is similarly rendered on the brim, at the recurve on the right rear. Painted HAM accession number within.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.26

DescriptionOne-piece rounded steel skull with high, roped comb. At rear base of comb is brass-gilt escutcheon-shaped plume-holder with scrolled ends and etched with strapwork. The pattern this produces could possibly be interpreted as producing a fleur-de-lis motif.

Encircling base of skull is row of 24 iron lining-rivets with brass caps, some of which retain fragments of leather band beneath irregularly circular flat iron washers within. These rivets have brass caps of two types. One of these, most if not all of which are later, is domed, slightly flattened, with a rimmed base. The other is a six-petalled, embossed floral rosette (there are two variations of this).

Brim downturned, recurved along basal edge behind ears, sweeping up front & rear in arched points. Edge inwardly turned over wire core file-roped. Cheek pieces do not appear to have been fitted.

Decorated with various contemporary & antique arms, martial artifacts, components of armor, as well as fantastic creatures & mythological scenes. These are found on the comb, the brim and in three radiating bands on the skull sides. Centered on the comb sides, within oval cartouches of slotted and voluted strapwork are scenes of Leda & swan (on the left), and ravishing of Antiope by Jupiter in guise of a satyr, in presence of Cupid (from Metamorphoses by Ovid, 6: 110-111; Hyginus 8) (on the right). Etched on the posterior peak is a pair of classically armed males in combat with falchions, their torsos arising from foliated tendrils. Decoration of brim & skull bands framed by wide, shallow bands of gilded guilloche. Primary decoration is acid-etched & fire-gilded on blackened, stippled ground. Traces of gilding on roping of comb & brim.
Label TextThis helmet was probably worn by a bodyguard to a noble family. The form is Italian in origin, but was also popular in Austria, Germany and France during the second half of the 1500s. The stylized curves on this example imitate helmets that Renaissance artists imagined on the heads of ancient Greek and Roman warriors. An almost identical helmet in the Art Institute of Chicago also bears the date 1585, as found here on a small, curving band at the front end of the comb.ProvenanceObtained by John W. Higgins July 15, 1930 from E & A. Silberman, New York and Vienna (Higgins evidently viewed the piece in Vienna during a visit April 1930). Purchased on 2 March, 1931. Given to the Armory 15 December 1930. Collection tranfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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