Breastplate

Artist workshops of Wolf and Peter von Speyer , or (Germany)

Artist Wolf Peppinghorn (Saxony, Germany)

Dateabout 1590–1600

Mediumsteel with fire-blackening, iron and leather

Dimensions44 × 44 × 20 cm (17 5/16 × 17 5/16 × 7 7/8 in.), 13 lb 8 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsMounting hole at neck of target identified with group of 4 punched dots around a fifth; similar group on hole in reinforcing bevor which also has single serial dot to left of middle hole in right row of mounting-holes; breastplate & its reinforce are identically marked to one another. There is single dot aligned with that noted above, 2 below hole below left armpit, 4 above top hole for lance-rest & 3 at hole below. The various screws are punched with corresponding location-dots. Breastplate also has traces of triple line decoration at side edges; backplate is red-painted within "Hr. Hoff Jäger meister/von Leibnitz:" in script; it was also once decorated on exterior with pairs of narrow lines extending down from neck & arms, converging at the waist where it is marked with punched dot.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.1175.3

DescriptionBreastplate of a single plate of robust steel with a moderate peasecod belly. Retains blackened finish where covered by the reinforce. Turned & roped at edge of left armpit, while right is plain & beveled. 2 bolt holes to R of center line, upper hole plugged with lead. The threaded stud to the L of the center line has been relocated lower than its original mounting, which is empty. The sides below arms have thick, riveted extension-plates. The basal flange is pierced with two sets of holes for leathers; the skirt is old, fits relatively well, and seems to be a working-like modification. The buckles at the shoulders, and elsewhere, have remains of tinning.
ProvenanceDresden Electoral Armory (possibly) Friedrich August III, King of Saxony Kahlert & Son (Berlin), their no. 87 William R. Hearst Clarence H. MacKay (Roslyn, L. I.) his A-32. Sold with shaffron HAM# 2586.2. Purchased by the Armory from Jacques Seligmann & Co. (NYC), agents for the Mackay estate on 1 April 1940, their A-32/113. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, Janaury 2014.

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