THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OFART COLLECTION OF ARMS AND ARMOR INCLUDING THE WIUIAM H.RTGGS DONATION MCMXXI Library of the University of jSorth Carolina Endowed by the Dialectic and Philan- thropic Societies r I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES NK6602 A6 UNjVERSjjY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00008836913 This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold, it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DUE RETURNED DATE DUE RETURNED OCT 2 5 2013 - FORM NO 513, REV. 1/84 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/handbookofarnnsarOOmetr THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM O F A RT HANDBOOK '^^ yn A OF ARMS AND ARMOR EUROPEAN AND ORIENTAL INCLUDING THE WILLIAM H. RIGGS COLLECTION BY BASHFORD DEAN NEW YORK MCMXXl Armures, perle des collections, orgueil des musees, reve caresse souvent en vain par tant d' amateurs. Rien nest plus rare qutme armure ancienne, Paul Eudel, 1907 COPYRIGHT BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART JANUARY, 1915 PLAN OF GALLERIES OF ARMOR TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE List of Illustrations ix Handbook: I Introduction i II The Present Collection and its Arrangement 9 III Earliest Arms and Armor ... 20 IV Arms and Armor of the Bronze Age and Classical Antiquity . , 22 V The Early Centuries of the Chris- tian Era 32 VI Chain-Mail and Mediaeval Armor . 35 VII The Period of Transition from Chain - Mail to Plate - Armor (1200- 1 400) 42 VIII The Period of Plate-Armor and Fi re-Arms (1400- 1780) . .45 A Armor of the Fifteenth Century 46 B Arms of the Fifteenth Century . 54 C Armor of the Maximih'an Period (1500- 1 5 30) 59 D Jousting Armor 63 E Arms of the Early Decades of the Sixteenth Century .... 67 vii Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE F Armor of the Middle and Late Sixteenth Century .... 69 G Swords and Daggers of the Sec- ond Half of the Sixteenth Cen- tury 73 H Pole-Arms 75 I Bows, Arrows, and Crossbows . 78 J Fire-Arms of the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century ... 82 K Arms and Armor of the Seven- teenth Century 94 L Horse Equipment during the Six- teenth and Seventeenth Centu- ries 103 M Banners 104 IX Questions about Armor: Its Weight and Size 108 X Japanese Arms and Armor . .113 A Armor 117 B Swords 127 C Pole-Arms 132 D Bows and Arrows 1 34 E Guns, Pistols, and Cannon . .135 F Horse Armor 1 36 XI Arms and Armor of the East: Arab (Saracenic), Turkish, Persian, In- dian, Chinese 138 List of Personages and Families whose arms, personal or state, are represented in the col- lection 147 Index of Names and Collections . 161 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PLATE PAGE Plan of Galleries of Armor . v I Egyptian Predynastic Flint Sword. Babylonian Sword, xiv Century B.C 4 II Bronze Armor, Italic, vii (?) Cen- tury B.C 6 III Etruscan Chariot, vi Century B.C. lo IV Greek Warriors. From Andocides Vase, End of vi Century B.C. 12 V Roman and Dacian Soldiers. From Trajan's Column, 11 Century A.D. 14 VI Prankish Soldier, vi Century A.D. After Gimbel 16 vii Prankish Soldier, ix Century. After Gimbel 18 VIII Norman and Saxon Armor, Late xi Century. After Bayeux "Tapestry " 20 IX Banded Mail WITH Shoulder Shield, 1274. After Gay 22 ix X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PLATE PAGE X Complete Chain-Mail, Late xiii Cen- tury (Brass of Sir John d'Auber- noun). After Hewitt .... 24 XI Hunting (or War) Horns, xi, xii, and XV Centuries. de Dino and Morgan Collections 26 XII "Ivory" Saddles, xiv, xv, and xvii Centuries, de Dino Collection . 28 XIII Chess Figure, about 1350. Marble Relief, about 1300 30 XIV Transitional Armor of Guenther VON ScHWARZBURG, 1 350. After Hewitt 32 XV Armor Transitional from Chain to Plate, 1360. After Hewitt, from MS. "Meliadus" 34 XVI Early Plate - Armor, 1401. After brass of Sir Nicholas Dagworth . 36 XVII Plate-Armor, 1421. After an Effigy of a Knight of the Family of Haber- korn 38 XVIII Gothic Armor, about 1435. After the brass of Roger Elmbrygge ... 40 XIX Armor of 1450. From one of the Caesar Tapestries (Bern). After Ju- binal 42 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi FACING PLATE PAGE XX Gothic Armor, Italian, about 1460. de Dino Collection 44 XXI Gothic Armor, about 1470. Stuy- vesant Collection 46 XXII Gothic Armor, about 1490. de Dino Collection 48 XXIII Maximilian Armor a Tonnelet, about 1 520. de Dino Collection . 50 XXIV Maximilian Armor, about 15 15. de Dino Collection 52 XXV Engraved and Gilded Armor OF Gal- lOT DE Genouilhac, dated 1527 . 54 XXVI Brigandines, End of xv and Middle of XVI Century. Riggs Collection. Af- ter Gay 56 XXVII Half-Armor Attributed to Charles DE Bourbon, 1520. Half-Armor of THE Duke of Alva, 1565. Riggs Collection 58 xxviii Half-Armor of the Duke of Sessa, about 1 560. de Dino Collection . 60 XXIX Half-Armor Made by Pompeo della Chiesa, about 1575. de Dino Col- lection 62 XXX Parade Armor, about 1590. Stuy- vesant Collection 64 XXXI Casque by the Milanese Armorer, Philip de Negroli, dated 1543. J. P. Morgan Collection 66 Xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PLATE PACE XXXII Harness, Blackened and Engraved, about 1600. de Dino Collection . 68 XXXIII BURGANETS AND CLOSED HeLMETS, XVI and early xvii Century. Riggs Collection 70 XXXIV BuRGANET OF Henry II, about 1550. de Dino Collection 72 XXXV BURGANETS, MORIONS, AND CaBAS- SETS, XVI Century. Riggs Collec- tion 74 XXXVI Breastplates, xvi and xvii Cen- turies. Riggs Collection ... 76 XXXVII Pieces of Armor, xvi Century. Main- ly Riggs Collection 78 xxxviii Gauntlets, xv and xvi Centuries. Clarence H. Mackay, Riggs, and de Dino Collections 80 xxxix Gauntlets, xvi and early xvii Cen- turies 82 XL Gauntlets of the Due de Guise (?) Philip III j AND OF 84 XLi RoNDACHES, XVI and xvii Centuries. Riggs and de Dino Collections . 86 XLii Swords, xvi Century, de Dino Col- lection 88 XLiii CiNQUEDEA, Early xvi Century. Riggs Collection . 90 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XIU FACING PLATE PAGE XLiv Swords, xv-xvii Centuries. Riggs and de Dino Collections .... 92 XLV Sword Pommels, xv and early xvi Century. Riggs Collection ... 94 XLVi Pole-Arms, xvi and xvii Centuries. Riggs Collection '96 XLVii War Hammers and Maces, xv and XVI Centuries. Riggs and de Dino Collections 98 XLViii Daggers, xiv, xv, and xvi Centuries. de Dino Collection . , .100 XLix Daggers, xvi Century, de Dino Col- lection 102 L ^ Guns, xvi and xvii Centuries. Riggs and de Dino Collections . .104 LI Pistols, xvi and xvii Centuries. Mainly Riggs Collection . .106 Lii Powder Horns, xvi and xvii Cen- turies. Riggs Collection . .108 Liii Horse Armor, about 1560. Riggs Collection 1 10 Liv Stirrups, xvi and xvii Centuries. Riggs Collection 112 LV Japanese Armor, vii Century (or earlier) ........ 120 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PLATE PAGE LVi Japanese Armor, x or xi Century. From Temple Sugata-no-Miya . .122 Lvn Japanese Armor, about 1200. Dean Collection 124 LViii Japanese Armor, Ashikaga Period, XIV Century. From Kosuga Tem- ple, Nara 126 Lix Armor of the Early Tokugawa Period, about 1630. From Effigy of Date Masamune (Sendai) . .128 LX Crests of Distinguished Japanese Families (Diagram of Ceiling) . .136 Lxi Hispano-Arab Sword, End of xv Cen- tury. Turkish Casques, xv and XVI Centuries, de Dino Collection . 1 38 lxii Gauntlet Sword -Hilt, South In- dian, XVII Century. George C. Stone Collection 140 Lxiii Katah Handles, South Indian, xvii Century. George C. Stone Collec- tion 142 Lxiv South Indian Daggers, xvii Century. George C. Stone Collection . .144 HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION I INTRODUCTION H E casual visitor to a modern museum is apt to know little of ancient Arms and Armor, and A he may not realize that among connoisseurs these objects rank high in the scale of objets d'ari —with ceramics, enamels, bronzes, even paintings. For one reason, unless he happens to know the famous collections in a few European capitals, he has prob- ably seen few specimens of armor of good quality. And he does not take into account that the art of the armorer, like the art of the painter or sculptor, can not be well appreciated from poor examples. On the other hand, the every-day visitor to a museum usu- ally associates arms and armor with the elaborately developed panoplies of the sixteenth century—of the time of the Italian wars and of the Field of the Cloth of Gold—and he pictures armor as a ceremonial equipment, etched, gilded, and embossed, worn as often in the court as in the camp, when swords were richly wrought, incrusted with silver and gold, and when halberds, which so often form an attractive portion of the sky-line in pictures of those days, 2 INTRODUCTION were fretted, etched, and gilded, their long shafts sheathed in velvet, and rich with silk tassels and gilded studs. These splendid equipments, it is true, represent an important side of the armorer's art. But it is equally true, from an artistic standpoint, that some of the most interesting objects were the earlier and simpler types which were beautiful rather in their lines and surfaces than in their mere enrich- ment. It is, then, from an examination of good specimens of armor and arms of various periods that one real- izes that they well deserve their place in a museum of art. And in this conclusion we need consider neither their historical value, as a means of picturing more accurately scenes and personages of known periods, nor their sentimental interest—which they possess to a degree rarely found in other objects of art—nor their supposed mystical significance.