Close Helmet

Cultureprobably Netherlandish

Dateabout 1600–1625

Mediumsteel, iron and leather

Dimensions35.6 × 27.9 × 27.9 cm (14 × 11 × 11 in.), 6 lb 5 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.1101

DescriptionSkull of two pieces, riveted at the edge and rolled over the low, roped comb. Steel plume-holder with punched decoration. Single-lame gorget plates, with roped edge, single sunken border with a pair of incised lines. The upper edge also roped, lacking sunken border, but with triple line decoration. Front gorget plate is restored. Visor with two occularia and dome-headed lifting-peg; bracket-cut edge at comb. Upper-bevor with slightly concave profile, lower edge cusped at mid-point. Secured closed with a pivot-hook from the bevor. Both faces punched with nine circular breaths in a circular pattern. The bevor is punched for hearing in a similar pattern near the posterior edge. Pivot-hook which originally secured skull is lacking. All components decorated en suite with sunken bands, incised sets of lines, roping.
Label TextBy the 1600s, armor was being made in greater quantities than ever before, as European armies grew to unprecedented sizes. But the quality of the armor was beginning to decline. This helmet was worn by a wealthy horseman as part of a full suit of armor. It is unusually beautiful for seventeenth-century armor, but technically it is inferior to examples of previous centuries. Most importantly, the main plate or “skull” is made of two separate halves, joined at the crest that runs down the middle. In previous centuries, the skull would be made from a single plate of steel. The joined design was easier and cheaper to execute, but it reduced the armor’s structural integrity.ProvenancePurchased by the Museum on August 7, 1930 from H. Furmage, London, England, his no. 9. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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