The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 30, 2023

Gothic Breastplate

c. 1485

South Germany or Austria

Steel

Overall: 50.5 x 35.8 x 15.8 cm (19 7/8 x 14 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.29

Location

210A Armor Court

Fun Fact

This breastplate consists of two primary plates of steel fastened at the center by a rivet.

Description

Individual armor elements, like this breastplate, were shaped in ways that would make their surfaces as deflecting as possible. The contours of this breastplate, along with the pronounced vertical ridge down its center, were for precisely this purpose.

Provenance
Seymour Lucas, sold to Frank Gair Macomber
-1916
Frank Gair Macomber (1849-1941), Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1916-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924. Mention: p. 62, C4, ; Reproduced: Plate XII, C4 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Helen Ives Gilchrist. Handbook of the Severance Collection of Arms and Armor. 2d ed., 1948. Reproduction: p. 33 archive.org
Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. 162
Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. 183
Catalogue of Arms and Armour. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], 1900.
Exhibition history

Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.29