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Shirt of Mail and Plate

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Shirt of Mail and Plate

Date:
15th century
Culture:
Iranian
Medium:
Steel, damascened with silver and partly gilt
Dimensions:
H. overall of mail shirt 31 in. (78.74 cm) W. at shoulder of mail shirt 19 in. (48.26 cm) L. of metal plate at waist 10 1/2 in. (26.67 cm) H. of metal plate at waist 8 1/2 in. (21.59 cm)
Classification:
Armor for Man
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1904
Accession Number:
04.3.456b

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 379

  • Description

    Acording to a Venetian ambassador writing in about 1478, the Ak-Koyunlu (White Sheep Turkoman) wore armor of "iron in little squares and wrought with gold and silver tacked together with small mail." Armor of this type seems to have been used throughout eastern Anatolia, Persia, and the caucasus at that time. This example is inscribed with generalized phrases extolling the power and glory of the ruler ("Glory to our lord . . . the sultan . . . the king") similar to those found on the Ak-Koyunlu turban helmets exhibited in this vitrine. Designed for use in battle, the armor is more elaborately decorated than most and was probably also used for ceremonial purposes.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Inscription: Inscriptions on helmet: (top of nasal) "There is no God but God", "Mohammad is the Messenger of God"; (below nasal piece) "Victory from God", "By order of Safi ad-Din Ahmad Ibn (al-Hasan?)"; (base of nasal) "and close (imminent) conquest"; (band at base of bowl) Koranic inscription; (on peak or visor) pious inscription which includes "99 beautiful names" of God, among them, "the hearing, the wise"; (right cheek piece, front plate) "God"; (right cheek piece, bottommost plate) "Oh living", "Oh everlasting". Inscriptions on body armor: (topplate, left front side) "Glory to our Lord... the sultan"; (bottom plate, left front side) "the Sultan Ibrahim"; (bottom plate, right front side) "the king, the khan" Ibrahim was Ottoman sultan from A.H. 1049-1658 (Partial reading of inscriptions by Manuel Keene of the Islamic Department, 1973)

  • Provenance

    Ex coll.: Dino, Paris

  • See also
    What
    Where
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    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
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