Right Pauldron in the "Italian" Style

Date1620–1625

Mediumsteel, leather and paint

DimensionsMeasurements with Arm Defense: 26 × 71 × 29 cm (10 1/4 × 27 15/16 × 11 7/16 in.), 6 lb 1 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsOn the top lame rear is the Beschau, and forward and above are two punched dots in a horizontal row; on the posterior halves of the pauldron lames are marked sets of pairs of narrow, triangular nicks; the lames over the arm have single nicks; there are three narrow, vertical slashes on the basal end of the riveted part of the upper cannon lower half; red painted "N. 3" on the lower anterior corner within of the mainlame.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.1148.6

DescriptionThis is from a German (Nuremberg) cuirassier armor of about 1620-25. It may relate to the left gauntlet. Pauldron deep, with squared corners, extending well over chest & back. The mainlame overlaps and is riveted to an upwardly overlapping set of three narrow level lames riveted at the ends. Riveted to the topmost is a deep lame which secures along its edge, conforming to the neck. This lame is pierced at mid-length with a slot for the collar strap, and riveted here is an iron rough oblong buckle with tongue and roller. The shank is secured by a pair of domed iron rivets in its bilobated end.

The perimeter of the pauldron has a plain turn. At the ends are leather lining-bands retaining fragments of a woven material. To the front and rear of the armpit are small, rounded flanges and between them over the arm the basal edge of the mainlame rises in a low arc.

Riveted here on a set of three internal leathers with tinned (?) rivet-heads within is a set of three downwardly overlapping narrow lames over the arm. These lames are of equal depth over their lengths to their pointed ends. The lames are riveted to the turner of the vambrace. This is generally like that of the left defense, but is part of a vambrace in the "Italian" manner. The upper cannon rotates in the turner channel.

The basal edge of the upper cannon is riveted at the sides to a closed "bracelet" couter consisting of a mainlame and a single lame each above and below. The laminations are pointed at the ends, and the edges are bevelled by filing. The mainlame is of greater front-to-rear depth than that of the left, with a rounded point at the elbow, and lacks the transverse ridge. The pucker of the tendon-protector is accented by a deeply incised line. Edges are turned as above.

The lower cannon is riveted to the lower lamination of the cowter, and is also of "tulip" form, riveted closed, but less pronounced in form, with the opening for the hand slightly angled rearward toward the bend of the arm.
ProvenancePurchased by Museum from J. Gluckselig & Sohn (Vienna, Austria) on December 1, 1936. Paid $300 for lot HAM#s 2383-2387. Old record states this armor was dealer's number 28, and mentions another "tag 1145". Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, Janaury 2014.

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