Left Vambrace in the "German" style
Artist
Master "MSJ" (possibly Martin Schneider the Younger)
(Nuremberg, Germany, active 1610 – 1620)
Date1620–1625
Mediumsteel, leather and paint
DimensionsMeasurements with Pauldron: 23 × 58 × 30 cm (9 1/16 × 22 13/16 × 11 13/16 in.), 5 lb 12 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsOn the top lame on either side of the buckle is the Beschau and the mark of the master "MSI" (the upper-case letters MSI or J over a pair of open shears, tips up, within a frame); top two lames of pauldron within have a single triangular pucnh near the posterior end; on anterior end of the top lame is the partly effaced, red-painted "N,,16(?)" (see collar); single triangular marks punched on the inner rear halves of the three lames over the arm, and another on the rear or outer half top of the lower cannon of the vambrace below.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.1148.7
DescriptionArms not a pair. The pauldron is German (Nuremberg), by "Master MSI/J", c. 1620. Deep, rounded pauldron with attached vambrace in the "German" fashion, with "tulip-form" lower cannon. The pauldron mainlame curves deeply over the chest and back, where is it rounded for the shoulder-blade, and flanged at the armpit front and rear. Above, articulated on an internal leather and rivets at the ends is a deep lame which curves over the point of the shoulder, rising slightly as it extends rearward. Riveted to the top mid-point of this lame is an iron double-looped buckle. The loops are oblong, and the inner of the two is tongued. They are cut with file-marks. Extending down the pauldron, onto the upper cannon of the vambrace, is a sharp medial ridge. The perimeter of the pauldron has an inwardly turned edge over a wire core, and is left plain. It is in turn bordered by a decorative row of domed iron rivets without washers.
Riveted to the bottom edge of the mainlame, over the arm, is a set of three lames overlapping downward. These lames are of uniform depth to one another, and over their width, curved to the arm, and level on the visible edge. At the ends, each lame has decorative rivets like those on the pauldrons. The lames articulate on three restored leathers, the bottom ends of which are attached to the turner of a vambrace in the "German" fashion.
The turner and upper cannon consists of two cylinders riveted shut along the inner face, with unturned cutouts on the inside of the arm, rotating on each other in a sharp, angular, embossed plain turn.
The cannon is linked to the couter and the lower cannon by a pair of original, internal leathers with flush, external heads. The closed "bracelet" couter has a heart-shaped tendon protector whose edge is turned as that of the pauldron. The tendon protector has a sharp pucker, and is riveted closed to the inner face of the couter. The couter has a broad point at the elbow, with a low ridge extending from the outer face to a point just short of the seam on the inner side.
The lower cannon is of "tulip" shape, and is of two riveted halves, with a deep curved cutout at the bend of the elbow. The straight opening for the hand is turned as above.
ProvenancePurchased by Museum from J. Gluckselig & Sohn (Vienna, Austria) on December 1, 1936. Paid $300 for lot HAM#s 2383-2387. Old record states this armor was dealer's number 28, and mentions another "tag 1145". Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, Janaury 2014.
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