Conservation Status: Before Treatment; Reference Image - Not for Reproduction

Reinforcing Breastplate for the Joust

Artistattributed to Kolman Helmschmid (Germany, 1471–1532)

Artistetching perhaps by Hans Burgkmair the Elder (German, 1473–1531)

Artistetching after Daniel Hopfer (German, about 1470–1536)

Date1520–1525

Mediumetched steel and brass with modern leather

Dimensions48.3 × 34.3 × 15.2 cm (19 × 13 1/2 × 6 in.), 6 lb 4 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

Markings9 stenciled in the inside in red paint.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.1138.3

DescriptionConsists of 1 piece of steel with riveted fauld. Mainplate of rounded shape with slight medial ridge. Cut out at R armpit for lance. Etching around top, upper sides, and lower edge of fauld.
Label TextThis is part of a tilting armor used for the Welschgestech über das Dill ("Foreign joust over the barrier"). Jousting came in a number of variants: this version involved a lance with a three-pronged tip, the object being to splinter the lance on the opponent's shield. Jousting armors were heavier and less mobile than armor for war, and often included additional protective elements like this one. This reinforce would have been bolted over the wearer's breastplate: a hole for the bolt can be seen at the top. Kolman Helmschmid was one of the leading armorers in the service of the emperors Maximilian and Charles V. Like other crafts, armoring tended to be passed down in a family, and Kolman's son Desiderius also became an armorer.ProvenanceEx-collection Princes Radziwill Bashford Dean Clarence H. Mackay (Roslyn, LI) Purchased by Museum on July 18, 1939 from Jacques Seligmann & C0. (NYC), agents for the estate of Clarence H. Mackay. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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