Helmet (Spangenhelm)

This is one of the best-preserved examples of a helmet type believed to have been made in Byzantium for regional military leaders employed by or closely allied with the Byzantine Empire. Its magnificence rests not solely on the gilding of the entire surface, but also on the rich program of imagery adorning every element. The bowl features human figures, animals, and various religious symbols. For example, the birds pecking grapes, seen on the helmet’s rim, are generally thought to represent the longing of Christians for Christ. In its original state a helmet like this would have typically included cheekpieces and a nape defense.

Such helmets have been discovered in France, Germany, Italy, the Balkans, and various other parts of Europe, as well as, in one instance, Libya, typically as grave goods in the tombs of Ostrogothic and other Germanic chieftains. Closely related to one another in construction and ornamentation, the forty-four complete and fragmentary examples of the type that have been recorded so far appear to have all been made in Byzantine workshops from the mid-fifth century through the end of the sixth century. Although now missing the cheekpieces and nape defense, the helmet under consideration ranks among the finest and best preserved of the group. It is especially noteworthy for the Christian symbolism of its decoration and it is a collection-transforming addition to the Museum’s holdings, which include a plainer and more damaged variant that was acquired in 1942 (Gift of Stephen V. Grancsay, 1942, acc. no. 42.50.1).

Among the recorded examples of the same type, one discovered in 1896 in Italy at Giulianova in the commune of Monte Pagano, East of Teramo, in Abruzzo, is probably the most closely related to The Met’s helmet. The Giulianova helmet was acquired in 1903 for the Berlin Zeughaus, now part of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. The two helmets are similar not only in construction and form, but also in the conception and technique of their decoration. The struts of the helmet in Berlin feature a similar pattern of triangles and similar motifs near the brow, including a drinking cup, what may be a church, and plants. The panels on the bowl similarly draw from the same repertoire of objects, plants, humans, animals, and mountain landscapes. The figure of a man framed by fishes, whose head is surmounted by a small cross, is particularly close to that which is represented on two panels of The Met’s helmet. Comparable decoration also occurs on the panels of a third helmet in the group, which was discovered in 1903 in Gammertingen, Baden-Württemberg, and which has been preserved in the Hohenzollern princely collection at Sigmaringen Castle ever since.

Minute discrepancies in the distribution of the ornament indicate that the pattern was not consistently reproduced on the helmets, and it is thus likely that the designs were created by hand and not transferred mechanically, by means of a mold or precast form.