Breastplate
Dateabout 1580
Mediumsteel with etching and gilding, iron, brass, leather fragments and modern leather with restorations
Dimensions5 lb 1 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsInterior painted accession number.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.660.3
DescriptionBreastplate of peascod shape, with medial ridge, and flexible gussets. Flange edge cut in series of scallops and fitted with turning-pins for the fauld. Pierced pegs at shoulders. Etched, gilt hinges with modern pins and chains at side posterior edges. Lower edge cut in a series of scallops. Fitted with lining rivets and a set of turning-pins. Bands of etching follow borders, gussets, medial line, and spaced evenly to either side. Motif similar to helmet, but with three of addorsed Cs connected by a short strap, forming an H-like design. The intersection of lozenges is formed as reversed crescents. Similar background, borders as helmet. Bands of foliate tendrils along scalloped edge.Provenance(Possibly) Herberstein family, Eggenberg Castle (possibly) M. Bachereau (Paris) Mr. Oliver H. P. Belmont (NYC) ex-collection Mr. Clarence H. Mackay (Roslyn, L.I.). Purchased by the Museum through Jacques Seligmann & Co. (NYC), agents for the estate of Clarence H. Mackay on 1 April 1940. Their number A-14/104. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
On View
Not on view
Desiderius Helmschmid
about 1552
Michel Witz the Younger
1530s