Left Vambrace
Culture
Italian
, possibly Milan
Dateabout 1510
Mediumetched steel with traces of gilding, brass, modern leather
Dimensions48 × 12 cm (18 7/8 × 4 3/4 in.), 2 lb 6 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.806.7
DescriptionLeft arm defense restored. Each vambrace comprised of a tubular upper cannon with a ridge-and-groove turner, a couter articulating on two lames above and below, and a lower cannon opening on modern external hinges and fastening with a buckle and strap. On the couters are unused brass rivets at the securing points for the internal strap-and-buckle assembly. There is a rectangular staple on the upper part of the turners for tying down a pauldron. There is roped decoration at the upper and lower ends, at the upper edge of the lower cannon, and on the wing of the couter. There is simple etched decoration in the Italian style inside the roping in each case, and also around the outer portion of the turner, and around the edges of the couter and couter lames. The etching, roping, and embossing all show some remnants of gilding. The elbows are adorned with embossed cockleshells. The pieces have been heavily overcleaned.The turners are both irregular at the seams, and show signs of reworking; there is nothing particular that unites them with the rest of the vambraces, and they seem likely to be associated. There are single assembly notches inside the cannons and couter-lames, all at the elbow. These align rather well on the left vambrace, not so well on the right one, perhaps suggesting that the latter is composite. However, the overall execution, color, and patination of the two vambraces is so consistent that there seems to be a good possibility that they are a pair, or at least of similar origin. Somewhat less certain are the inner gutters of the lower cannons, which have irregular longitudinal edges, and the upper turners as already mentioned.
The left couter seems to show signs of reworking at the inner part of the elbow. The etched band on the cowter at the point of the elbow slightly overlaps the embossed cockleshell.
The engrailed edging on the turners is reminiscent of that on a Niccolò Silva armor dated c. 1510 (Boccia and Coelho 1967: pl. 173).
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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