Right Pauldron

Artist Valentin Siebenbürger , or (German, 1510–1564)

Dateabout 1540

MediumSteel, iron, brass and leather

Dimensions27 × 29 × 30 cm (10 5/8 × 11 7/16 × 11 13/16 in.), 7 lb (weight with besagew)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsThe pauldrons have punched serial dots, a Nuremberg view-mark and the mark of Siebenbürger, with painted "NR20" within the left pauldron. Neither pauldron has chevronic marks.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.1164.6

DescriptionThis is of six lames, rounded over the shoulderblade and cut out at the front of the armpit. The mainplate deepens broadly to the rounded shoulder where it is finished in a triangular flange at the armpit. The lame is embossed at the armpit with parallel, broad shallow full-length flutes which are themselves angularly beveled above.

Below the mainplate is a set of four similarly-embossed lames of equal depth, overlapping towards the mainplate, and working on an internal pair of leathers and posterior sliding-rivets (modern) of brass (one is iron, brass-capped). The basal lame is finished with an inwardly turned, angular edge in turn bordered by double-sunken bands (one wide, one narrow), framed by incised lines. The lame is fitted with a modern strap and associated buckle with traces of gilding.

The uppermost pauldron lame is curved, deepens towards the center, and is riveted to the mainplate at the ends. It attaches to the slotted shoulder straps of the breastplate by means of a modern leather strap riveted on the inside of the plate and passing through the slot then engaging a modern buckle on the outside of the lame. The fit of the lame to its neighbor is a good one, however the presence of an empty hole to the outside of the terminal rivets, and a row of five punched serial dots in addition to the pair of nicks at the rear edge suggest that it may be an ancient replacement, perhaps provided by Siebenburger (see below). The top edge of the lame is hollow and angularly turned inward, with the Nuremberg view-mark forward of the buckle.

The mainplate edge at front and rear is inwardly turned and bordered as above, with the broad band filled with brass rivets. At the front armpit, the edge has the two nick marks. The top edge is slightly angled, and appears to have had squared terminals of the ribs between the flute extended onto it sometime after the manufacture of the plate. On its front face the mainlame is pierced for a now-lost insert of which only the brass rivets remain.

The four lames below are each marked with the “V”-shaped nicks and hollow flanged on the straight-cut inside edges.
Provenance(probably) ex-Nuremberg "Zeughaus" Germanisches Museum (Nuremberg) (to c. 1905) Counts Erbach-Erbach (Erbach in Odenwald) E. Kahlert und Sohn (Berlin) Clarence H. Mackay (Roslyn, L.I) Purchased by the Armory from Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. (NYC), agents for the Mackay estate, on 1 April 1940, as #A-43/120. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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