The hatched ground and lively nature of the decoration are excellent examples of the highest quality of etching found on Italian armor in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Also characteristic are the central band of classically inspired trophies and the horizontal frieze with depictions of saints. Here, the Christ Child as the Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) appears in the center, flanked by Saint Christopher and Saint Sebastian.
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Title:Breastplate
Date:ca. 1510–15
Geography:Milan
Culture:Italian, Milan
Medium:Steel
Dimensions:H. 17 1/2 in. (44.45 cm); W. 13 1/4 in. (33.66 cm); D. 7 in. (17.78 cm); Wt. 8 lb. 15 oz. (4054 g)
Classification:Armor Parts-Breastplates
Credit Line:Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Bequest of Bashford Dean, 1928
Object Number:29.150.78
[Sale, Altes Kunstgewerbe/Plastik der Gotik und Renaissance alte und moderne Gemälde aus dem Nachlass eines münchener Sammlers, Hugo Helbing, Munich, October 6–7, 1925, no. 177, sold, for DM 1610, to Dean]; Bashford Dean, New York (1925–d. 1928; his bequest to MMA).
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance," October 22, 1977–January 8, 1978, no. 110.
Bridgeman, Jane. "Armour, weapons and dress in four paintings by Dosso Dossi." Apollo: the International Magazine of the Arts, (2000), p. 21, fig. 2.
Helbing, Hugo. Altes Kunstgewerbe, Plastik der Gotik und Renaissance, alte und moderne Gemälde aus dem Nachlass eines Münchener Sammlers. Munich: Hugo Helbing, October 6–7, 1925. no. 177, pl. 3.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Stephen V. Grancsay, and Carl Otto von Kienbusch. The Bashford Dean Collection of Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Portland, ME: Southworth Press for the Armor and Arms Club of New York City, 1933. pp. 144–45, no. 64, pl. XXXVI.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of European Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1956), p. 218, ill.
Mayor, A. Hyatt. "The Gifts that Made the Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (November 1957), p. 93, ill.
Nickel, Helmut. Ullstein-Waffenbuch: eine kulturhistorische Waffenkunde mit Markenverzeichnis. Berlin: Ullstein, 1974. p. 122, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V., D. Graeme Keith, and Dr. Charles Avery. The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance. San Francisco: Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1977. Cat. no. 110, pp. 47, 86.
Boccia, Lionello G., Fabio Rossi, and Marco Morin. Armi e Armature Lombarde. Milan: Electa, 1980. p. 97, pl. 86.
Pyhrr, Stuart W. "Some Elements of Armor Attributed to Niccolò Silva." Metropolitan Museum Journal, (1983), pp. 112, 117–20, figs. 11–12.
Grancsay, Stephen V., and Stuart W. Pyhrr. Arms & Armor: Essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920–1964. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. pp. 59–67, fig. 21.5.
Karcheski, Walter J., and Thom Richardson. The Medieval Armour from Rhodes. Leeds: Royal Armouries, 2000. p. 79.
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