Three-Quarter Armor for a Cuirassier

Culture French

Date1610–1620

Mediumsteel with modern blueing, brass, gold, fabric, and with modern leather and restorations

Dimensions63 lb. 9 oz. (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsNone visible.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.18

DescriptionThree-quarter length blued steel cuirassier armor with restored elements and blueing. Comprised of an open burgonet with fluted skull "of proof" and sliding gilded nasal, retaining its original, green fabric lining within the cheekpieces; two-part restored gorget; breastplate of vestigial peascod shape, with fitted reinforcing breastplate retained by a turning pin at the top and the waiststraps; backplate with restored, laminated culet secured by turning pins at the end of the basal flange; long laminated two-part cuisses with poleyns, detachable at the fifth lame from the top (the four lames above on both cuisses are restored) attached to the breastplate flange with domed studs, and turning pins in keyhole-shaped slots; symmetrical deep pauldrons (vambraces and gauntlets lost).

All elements are mounted with decorative brass rivets, and the edges of the pauldron and cuisses lames are scalloped, engraved and punched. The knees, pauldron faces and cheekpieces are embossed with palmettes and roseate motives. Traces of original fire-blueing are visible on the backplate and other elements.

The 1872 description mentions a gauntlet; that of 1873 states that a gauntlet and vambraces are lacking.
Label TextBy the 1600s, armor was in rapid decline, but high-quality armor was still being made for important clients. This fine suit was made for the mounted guard of Louis XIII of France. The king had a matching suit, with the added feature of golden rivet heads in the shape of the fleur-de-lis. The trooper who wore this armor was actually armed with a pair of pistols. Under pressure from firearms, armor would disappear from the battlefield by the end of the century, though it was still worn in aristocratic portraits.ProvenanceComte de Belleval, sold anonymously Paris April 15-16 1872, lot 46; Frederic Spitzer (Paris); sold in Paris 1893; Purchased by John W. Higgins on January 12, 1929 at Anderson Galleries (NY), Spitzer sale, lot 673; Given to the John Woodman Higgins Armory Museum on March 1, 1929; Collection transfer from Higgins Armory to the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA, January 2014.

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