Right Pauldron

Culturepossibly Innsbruck or Mühlau, Austrian

Dateabout 1490

MediumSteel and leather

Dimensions25.4 × 30.5 × 25.4 cm (10 × 12 × 10 in.), 2 lb, 7 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsMark on rear of the uppermost lame is similar to that of a German/Austrian sallet, ca. 1470-80 in the Keasbey sale, American Art Galleries (NYC), 5/6 December 1924, lot 304. This given as a "Gothic" "A" or "D" (could be an "H"?). Cf. to that on Italian armet, ca. 1440 (45.50.2-MMA, NYC) in Curtis, pp. 98-99. See the image in the digital file.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.1146.4

DescriptionConstructed of 4 lames overlapping upwards, with plain outward turns at top and bottom. The plates appear to be welded of 2 layers. Fluted decoration on rear of second lame down. Lames articulate on rivets at each end, with a sliding rivet at the center. Articulation of the plates is good. The articulating rivets have large flat heads inside similar to those on sallet 2608.a. Articulation at the front may originally have been on leathers, as there is an unused rivet on the bottom lame that would have been necessary to secure the leather, but this still leaves unexplained the unused rivet on the back interior of the lowest lame. It is also unclear how the entire pauldron secured to the upper arm, unless perhaps by this rivet and the one opposite to it.

There is a pair of holes at the top for tying the pauldron in plate, but these holes and the turned edge are both crude, and may have been altered. There are 2 old holes toward the rear of the lowest plate at the bottom edge; 2 more holes toward the center, flanking the medial ridge, are modern, evidently for mounting a vambrace. The besagew holes are modern, and there is a scratched "X" between them evidently used to locate them.
Label TextThis shoulder-guard was laced onto the knight's "arming coat" using the paired holes at the top. This allowed the piece to flex upward so the knight could lift his arms. The side facing you is the back: the broad sweep across the shoulderblade overlapped with the backplate when the arm was low, but came up to cover the armpit when the arm was lifted.ProvenanceStadtrath Richard Zschille (Grossenhain, Saxony; to 1897) (perhaps) Oliver H.P. Belmont (NYC and Newport, to 1911) Clarence H. Mackay (Roslyn, LI; to 1939) Purchased by Museum on November 9, 1940 from Jacques Seligmann & Co. (NYC), agents for estate of Clarence H. Mackay. Collection trasnfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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