Gorget

Dateabout 1510-20, assembled and decorated in 1800s

Mediumsteel and leather

Dimensions18 × 23 × 39 cm (7 1/16 × 9 1/16 × 15 3/8 in.), 2 lb 9 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsThere is a wheel-like stamped mark on the rear left of the collar. This is probably an owner's mark. See photo in digital file.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.806.2

DescriptionProbably Milanese, c. 1510-20 (Boccia 188-91). Of two plates, now secured by a projecting rivet and keyhole slot on either side of the neck opening. Articulated neck plates are hinged on left, secured on right by hole snapping over a peg. The front plate of the colletin is associated, having been embossed and etched to match other components such as left cuisse plate. Rear plate similarly decorated and carries arabesque foliate and strapwork etched designs on alternate sunken areas of embossing. Fitted with spring-loaded catch pegs mounted on hinged metal straps at shoulders. Lower right edge of the rearplate is fractured, with heavy pitting at center. Proper left corner carries stamped owner's mark (same as breastplate). Borders at sides of both front and rearplates are decorated with a simple single embossed border. Front articulated neck plates are restored and newly etched. Borders are outwardly rolled.

A broad and deep collar of two neck-lames both front and back, with large fluted plates for the chest and back. The whole is decorated with modern etching.

The collar attaches by a hinge on the uppermost neck-lames on the left, with a keyhole-slot and mushroom-shaped stud on the right shoulder, and a plain stud and stud-hole on the uppermost necklames on the right. There is also a (superfluous?) keyhole and mushroom-shaped stud on the left shoulder. On the shoulders are hasps and tall sprung pins for attaching the pauldrons. The rear neck-lames work on sliding rivets, with a central leather, while the front lames have solid rivets. There are modern leather strips around the neck-opening and the lower edges of the collar.

The front neck-lames are restored, to judge by the character of the metal and relatively crisp edges. The chest-plate is decorated with broad radiating flutes that are executed with some skill. The chest-plate does not match the back-plate at the shoulders, and is therefore associated, but allowing for some deformation in the process of reworking, its quality is generally good, and it looks to be an original piece. It bears on a brass rivet in the center of the plate, with a pair of brass rivets to either side, all of which appear to have originally served to attach the leathers for the neck-lames, although of those on the sides the lower are now unused, and the upper ones now are riveted directly to the lower neck-lame. There are ten rivets around the lower edge, serving to secure the modern leather strip on the inside. In addition, there are vacant holes at the bottom edge of the shoulders, possibly former construction-holes. Adjoining the hole on the right shoulder is a plugged hole of indeterminate purpose. Above these on both sides are the keyholes used to attach the backplate; both have patched repairs. Slightly inside and above these keyholes are a pair of symmetrical empty holes, perhaps formerly used in securing the pauldrons. The right shoulder has one more vacant hole above this. Borders at sides of both front and rear plates are decorated with a simple single embossed border. Borders are outwardly rolled.

The rearplate of the collar has fluted decoration similar to that on the frontplate. On the left shoulderblade there is a punched mark resembling a wheel. There is severe pitting in parts, continuing up onto the rear neck-lames. There is a fair bit of cracking and other damage around the lower edges of the plate in general. The plate has a similar leather lining-band to the front, secured by eleven rivets. Just above the right shoulder-hasp rivet, and just below the one on the left, is an additional hole; these holes are asymmetrical to each other and probably not related.

Connected to the rearplate and to each other by sliding brass rivets are the two rear neck-lames. These match the patination of the rearplate and frontplate both inside and out, and although they imperfectly match the line of the rearplate, they are similar enough to it that the discrepancies may be due to reworking.

Probably Milanese, ca. 1510-20 (Boccia, pp. 188-191)
ProvenanceFranz Thill Collection, Vienna (gorget and breastplate, to 1905) S. J. Whawell Frank Gair Macomber, Boston. Helmet: John Long Severance purchase for the Cleveland Museum of Art, exchanged with Bashford Dean (#16) for equestrian armor. Dean acquired the gorget and breastplate from Macomber, having already borrowed and displayed them with the helmet in Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1911 catalogue, #39, pl. XXV). Dean is responsible for the full composed suit, adding his helmet, pauldrons, and Marchat restorations in 1912. Clarence H. Mackay (#A.49-until (?) 1941) Kende Galleries at Gimbel Bros. (1941). Purchased by the Armory on 26 December 1941, from Gimbel Bros./Hammer Galleries (NYC) as suit A-49 of the Mackay estate. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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