Mortuary Helmet
Culture
English
Date1600s–1700s
Mediumiron, paint
Dimensions44.5 × 34.3 × 30.5 cm (17 1/2 × 13 1/2 × 12 in.), 6 lb (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.1127
DescriptionTwo-part skull is from a harquebusier helmet, mid-1600s, with attached brow-plate from the same or a similar helmet. The front and back gorget plates come from two separate pikeman's armors of the same period. The chinplate, backplate, and face-bars were made for the mortuary assemblage in the late 1600s or 1700s.The entirety has been painted black in relatively recent times; beneath the paint is visible the characteristic pitted surface of a mortuary helmet. Traces of red paint within on all main plates, suggesting this was part of the mortuary design.
Label TextArms and armor were the distinctive attributes of a knight, and gave rise to the heraldic symbols that proclaimed a knight's identity and status. The influence could also go the other way: here a military helmet has been given showy but impractical face-bars to make it resemble the pictures of helmets used in heraldry. This helmet would have hung over the tomb of a gentleman as a mark of his status in life.ProvenanceCollection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
On View
Not on view
forearm guard late 1500s; blade 1800s
