Thomas Del Mar Ltd
Lot 258
A COMPOSITE SOUTH GERMAN FLUTED HALF-ARMOUR FOR FIELD USE IN THE SO-CALLED 'MAXIMILIAN' FASHION, CIRCA 1510-20 comprising close helmet formed of a broad rounded one-piece skull with 'bellows' visor and bevor attached by a pair of low-domed common pivots, the visor prominently stepped beneath its centrally-divided vision-slit, pierced in three rows with ten horizontal ventilation-slots and fitted at its right side with a lifting-peg, the bevor flanged outwards at its lower edge to form a short neck-guard (slightly trimmed at its centre, the flange and left side of the bevor each showing riveted and brazed repairs) and secured to the right side of the skull by a spring-catch (push-button replaced), and one lame of a rear neck-guard (incomplete right end missing), collar of four lames front and rear (the top front lame with a later hole at the centre, the lowest front lame with a large patch at the left side, the lowest rear lame with minor chips and cracks at its main edges), breastplate formed of a rounded main plate pierced at its right side with a pair of holes for the attachment of a lance-rest and fitted with moveable gussets at the arm-openings and a flanged lame at the waist, the latter restored at its outer ends with riveted patches and bearing a stud and turning-pin for the attachment of a fauld of three lames the lowest of which supports a pair of tassets each of four lames (partly reworked), backplate formed of a main plate, a pair of side-plates and a waist-lame, the latter flanged outwards to receive a culet of one lame indented at the centre of its lower edge, the upper edge of the main plate stuck with an indistinct mark, probably the quality control mark of the city of Nuremberg, spaudlers almost forming a pair, each comprised of seven lames overlapping outwards from the third (the front of the second lame of the left one repaired with a riveted internal patch) and connected by a turner to a fully articulated vambrace formed of a tubular upper and lower cannon (the lower one in each case repaired at its inside with a large riveted internal patch) each fitted at the inside of the elbow with a pair of narrow lames (the upper one of the lower cannon in each case missing) and connected by a couter of five lames overlapping outwards from the third which is decorated on the point of the elbow with an embossed and cross-hatched cinquefoil and has a small bilobate wing at the front fitted with a turning pin to secure a larger overlying detachable oval wing with a medial pucker, and gauntlets almost forming a pair, each comprised of a short straight-ended cuff with a hinged inner plate (the right one now held shut by a later rivet), five metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate, five finger-plates and a hinged thumb-defence of three lames, the armour decorated overall with groups of flutes emphasised by pairs of incised lines, and at its main edges with inward turns, mainly plain but in some cases roped, and often accompanied by recessed borders (moderate pitting and wear overall, some cracks and perforations): on a metal stand Inv. no. A53. The helmet forming part of this armour very likely derives from a group of fluted close helmets that were deposited as booty in the Imperial Arsenal of St Irene in Istanbul, probably taken from the Knights of St John at Rhodes when they surrendered to the Ottoman Turkish forces of Suleyman the Magnificent in 1522. A high proportion of the helmets have had their neck-lames and the lower edges of their bevors removed, as in the present case. Four are still preserved in the Askeri Museum, Istanbul. See S. W. Pyhrr 1989, pp. 89 & 94, figs 8 & 17. Another is preserved in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, II.14. See A. R. Dufty & W. Reid 1968, pl. XC.c. The embossed and cross-hatched cinquefoils on the points of the elbows and detachable wings on the couters of the armour described here closely resemble those preserved as part of a composite 'Maximilian' armour in Leeds. Very similar detachable wings can also be recorded on a pair of 'Maximilian' vambraces formerly in the armoury of Schloss Kefermarkt, Upper Austria, and the collection of the late Stephen V. Grancsay, New York.
