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Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Basinet Helm with Aventail (mail hood) and "Dog-Faced" visor
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Basinet Helm with Aventail (mail hood) and "Dog-Faced" visor

Dateabout 1360–1370
Mediumsteel, iron and brass with modern leather, cord and restorations
Dimensions48.3 × 38.1 × 40.6 cm (19 × 15 × 16 in.), 6 lb 2 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.842.1
DescriptionThe metal components have been acid cleaned and heavily ground down. The surface of the visor is lumpy and deformed, at least in part due to the heavy patching of the metal, and the edges have been trimmed. The egg-shaped skull has been artificially resurfaced.

(helmet) Egg-shaped basinet of steel with heavily patched, one-piece skull. Roundedly ogival apex is slightly to rear of center. Roundly arched facial opening to rounded side edges that extend straight along the sides and across the back of the neck. Sides and rear bordered by a row of seventeen stubby, tubular, plinthed vervelles beginning just outside of the eye orbits (From the left, only numbers 1, 15, 16 are original and undisturbed; 4, 5, 7, 12 are old but have been re-mounted; rest are modern restorations.) There are no signs of holes for the mounting of triangular plates to protect the strap with the aventail. Below the vervelles are circular, punched holes for the liner retainer; these holes extend across the brow edge. Vertically pierced above the brow are two holes (either later, or enlarged then); the uppermost is fitted with a modern, iron, pivoting arm that is designed to engage the hinge of the associated Klappvisier. The hole below the arm has a modern "L"-shaped hook for the visor, with a screw base fitted with an iron rosette washer.

(Visor) Swiss or German, style of 1370-80, but probably cut down from a late 14th century example (see Forner, V.I. plts III, IV, #17; Cripps-Day, p. 115, note; Dufty plt. LXXIII, # IV.467, IV.6). Once part of a larger visor pivoted at the temples (See Forner), this is now formed as a Klappvisier profile. Boxed sights of two "I"-shaped occularia, divided with a lozenge-shaped recess at the medial area. A medial ridge extends from the base of the sight to the tip of the "conical" snout. In section this is faceted on the upper half and rounded below. Near mid-length on each of the flat faces above, is an irregular piercing of six circular breaths around a seventh. At the same point on the rounded area below is a boxed, "toothed" breath cut with five oblong slots. At the brow center the modern hinge and its mounts are secured with three domed rivets in a horizontally extended "V" pattern. No marks are visible.

(Mail aventail) May once have been a part of a mail hood. This is of riveted and welded iron rings, in the usual pattern of four rings interlocked through a fifth. There are no solid rings visible. The rings are medium-size (average 10-11 mm outside diameter), and slightly oblate in form. Mail of flattened links with wedge-shaped rivets (the rivet shape is clearly visible on some of the broken links); has been acid-cleaned. Not originally an aventail: the piece has been shaped by cutting and slipping in opened links at the seam-lines. Brass edging links are modern.
Label TextThis helmet is typical of the style worn by knights from the late 1300s to the early 1400s. It has been heavily restored. The visor belonged to a different helmet, and the mail hood that protects the neck was made from an unrelated (but genuine) mail element. Nonetheless, the piece remains a rare survival of an important armor type. The so-called “dog-faced” or “pig-faced” visor deflected enemy weapons, but also added to the wearer’s inhuman and threatening appearance. Provenanceex-Dean collection (Sir James G. Mann stated on 23 November 1948 that this was "from a London sale", but no date or owner was given) (Aventail) Dean (Visor) Lucerne Zeughaus Stadtrath Richard Zschille Sir Edward Barry? Sir Guy F. Laking (as of 1901) Bashford Dean Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
On View
Not on view
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Northern Italian
portions 1500s, assembled and decorated in 1800s
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Northern German
1555–1560
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Nuremberg
early 1500s, modified into 1800s
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Northern Italian
1560–1570
Conservation Status: After Treatment
Southern German
1480–1490
Close Helmet for the Field
Caremolo di Modrone
about 1535–1540
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Austrian
1550–1600, with 19th century restorations
Conservation Status: After Treatment
Northern Indian
1600s, with later modifications
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Northern Italian
about 1560–1570
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Rajasthani
possibly 1800s, with earlier components
Conservation Status: After Treatment
Ahmad Karahisari
probably 1400s