Cleveland Museum of Art

Breastplate from Hussar's Cuirass

Date

c. 1580

Medium

Steel (originally blued, now russet), etched and gilded strapwork bands;

Culture

Germany, Augsburg or Hungary, 16th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This style of breastplate, with its numerous articulating lames, was probably used by a Hungarian hussar, a type of light cavalryman. The steel plates were originally blued-now turned russet-and etched and gilded with strapwork bands. The rows of vertical holes once provided gilt-brass settings for stones or glasspaste jewels. The effect would have suggested the semi-oriental costume and armor of the Near East favored by Polish and Hungarian armies of the late Renaissance. The breastplate’s contours, like the ridge down the center, were designed to deflect arrows and other projectiles.

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