Left (?) Cowter (elbow guard)

Culture Spanish , or

Culture Italian

Dateabout 1500–1510

Mediumsteel

Dimensions11 × 14.4 × 11.5 cm (4 5/16 × 5 11/16 × 4 1/2 in.), 5 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.903

DescriptionSmall, of 1 piece of steel in shell-like form. Shaped to point of elbow in boxed, 4-facet fashion & extends around outer side of arm, embossed longitudinally in triangular section which develops into pronounced tapered anterior pucker carrying inside bend of elbow. Vertical faces narrow toward inner side, & have inwardly-turned, plain edges. At mid-outer face, cowter once fitted with 2 sets of roughly domed iron rivets, horizontal row of 2 above & below embossed medial line. These rivets, 1 preserved would have secured leathers to vambrace cannons above & below. Vertically centered forward of these rivets is another, visible only from inner side, which would have been anterior terminal of bifurcated strap, posterior mounts of which are visible near rear edge. (Only 1 flattened rivet remains; part of mounting hole of the 1 below can be seen.)
ProvenanceRhodes Beshiklash his brother in Paris Louis R. Bachereau Bashford Dean Purchased by John W. Higgins on September 28, 1929 from estate of Bashford Dean (Riverdale, NY), odd lot #3. Given to the Museum on January 8, 1947. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, Janaury 2014.

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