PROBABLY BRESCIA

comprising Zischagge with one-piece skull rising to a low comb of inverted V-section, fitted at its nape with a plume-holder and at its apex with a bulbous finial on a large quatrefoil washer, projecting forward at the brow to an obtusely-pointed peak with a rectangular staple above it carrying a nasal with elaborately shaped finial and secured by a thumb-screw, and fitted at its rear with a pronounced flared neck-guard of four lames, the lowest of pointed ogee profile (disarticulated at right end), and at each side with a two-piece pendant cheek-piece, fitted at its centre with a domed rivet enclosed by eight radiating rectangular slots within a frame of circular ventilation-holes and stepped at the front top to accommodate the peak; collar of a single plate front and rear, fastened at the right by a stud and key-hole slot; heavy breastplate formed in one piece with a low medial ridge, struck with the proof mark of a bullet at the right of the chest, fitted at each side with a stud to receive a shoulder-strap and a further stud at its centre, a pierced stud at each side to receive a swivel-hook from the back-plate, flanged outward at its base to receive a pair of tassets each of fifteen lames divisible at the eighth; poleyns of four lames the second in each case fitted with a large centrally-puckered wing; backplate matching the breastplate, struck with the proof mark of a bullet, fitted at each shoulder with a leather strap reinforced with four iron scales, at the base with a hook at each side to engage the breastplate, and at its base with a broad culet of seven lames; a pair of full arm-defences comprising a pair of symmetrical pauldrons each of seven lames overlapping outwards from the third, connected by a turner to a pair of vambraces each formed of a tubular upper and lower cannon linked by a couter of four lames with a centrally puckered oval wing at the front, and enclosed at the inside of the elbow by ten lames overlapping inwards from the sixth, the lower cannon fastened at the front by a sprung stud; a pair of gauntlets each with a flared cuff closed at the inside, articulated by a wrist-plate to three metacarpal plates, a shaped knuckle-plate, a hinged thumb-defence and finger-lames (with small restorations); the principle borders of the armour formed with plain inward-turned edges, those of the base of the cullet roped, the whole decorated throughout with engraved trophies-of-arms within elaborate strapwork frames filled with pointié foliage, the turners and gauntlets each with trophies incorporating cannon and artillery tools, a running border of flowers at the principle edges, the secondary borders with a frieze-work of blind arcading, the breastplate with a Patriarchal Cross in the centre at the neck; the inside of the skull and the backplate painted with a white inventory number ‘45’, in clean, stable condition throughout (the bottom edge of the left poleyn with light pitting and small chips, the decoration of the culet with areas of wear, minor disarticulations, expertly releathered, some buckles restored): on a wooden stand with leather boots

Provenance

Perhaps one of the group of armours purchased by Lord Somers in 1853, stated (incorrectly) to be of Emperor Charles V’s bodyguard and preserved in Milan for many years.

Charles Somers-Cocks, 3rd Earl Somers (1819-83), Eastnor Castle, thence by descent

Literature

Lady Henry Somerset, Eastnor Castle, London 1889, p. 22: ‘A three-quarter suit of Plate Armour, engraved with trophies of arms and fleur-de-lys’.

A helmet of very similar form, decorated in the same style, is preserved in the former collection of the Dukes of Este at Konopiště, Czech Republic (inv. no. I.c.D-114, and illustrated Šáda 1986, p. 37, no. 18.t.)

The specific inclusion of cannon and artillery tools such as ladles and sponges on the turners and gauntlets may suggest that this was intended for a senior officer of artillery.

The Patriarchal Cross, also called the Cross of Lorraine, is probably a reference to the venerated relic of the True Cross in the cathedral at Brescia that is housed within a cross of the same form. Two morions of circa 1570-80, decorated with a similar cross along with the rampant lion of Brescia and attributed to the that town’s guard are respectively preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 14.25.532) and the Museo Civico L. Marzoli, Brescia (inv. no. 330). See Rossi and Di Carpegna 1969, p. 55 cat. no. 120. Another armour of this type, formerly in the collection of Tosio Martinengo, and now in the Museo Civico L. Marzoli, Brescia, is illustrated Rossi, p. 77, cat. No B67. The armour in Brescia has a close helmet in place of Zischagge, a matching stud in the centre of the chest, divisible tassets, enclosed elbows, and similar decoration throughout including the rampant lion of Brescia on the breastplate. A cuirass decorated in a similar manner and attributed to the ownership of one of the Counts Martinengo, is preserved in the Armeria Reale, Turin. See Boccia and Coelho, p. 526, nos. 445, 446 and 448. A slightly later cuirass in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. 5778-1859), is decorated in a related manner, with the conjoined initials ‘AM’, and a Count’s coronet above a Patriarchal Cross and Orb in the centre. The initials are similar to those on the ricasso of a left-hand dagger attributed to Pietro Antonio Martinengo, Count of Brescia (recorded 1644-1671), now preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago (ref. no. 1982.2150).