Right Thigh and Knee Defense (Cuisse and Poleyn) for the Armor of Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623)

Armorer Made under the direction of Jacob Halder British

ca. 1587

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 371

Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623) was appointed a Gentleman Pensioner by Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603) in 1571 or 1572 and knighted in 1592. This thigh and knee defense belongs to an armor (acc. no. 11.128.1) that was probably commissioned by him in preparation for the threatened Spanish invasion of England in 1588. It was made in the royal workshops at Greenwich during the tenure of Jacob Halder (documented in England 1558–1608) as master armorer.

The remains of this and the later Scudamore armor for his son James in the adjacent case were found, badly damaged and incomplete, in 1909, in Holme Lacy, the ancestral home of the Scudamores. The armors were restored and completed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1915, by the armorer Daniel Tachaux. The parts made by Tachaux include the helmet, left pauldron (shoulder defense), gauntlets, and right sabaton (foot defense).

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

References

Title:
Right Thigh and Knee Defense (Cuisse and Poleyn) for the Armor of Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623)
Armorer: Made under the direction of Jacob Halder (British, master armorer at the royal workshops at Greenwich, documented in England 1558–1608)
Date: ca. 1587
Geography: Greenwich
Culture: British, Greenwich
Medium: Steel, gold, leather
Dimensions: 22.147.4a: H. 4 1/2 in. (11.43 cm); 22.147.4b: H. 7 3/4 in. (19.69 cm); W. 5 in. (12.7 cm)
Classification: Armor Parts-Knee Defenses
Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1922
Object Number: 22.147.4a, b
Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor

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By Jacob Halder

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Field Armor Probably of Sir John
Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623), Jacob Halder British, Steel, gold, leather, British, Greenwich — Field Armor Probably of Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623)
Jacob Halder
Daniel Tachaux
ca. 1587, restored and completed 1915

Rear Plates of the Left Foot Defense from a Field Armor Probably of Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623)

British, Greenwich

ca. 1587

Terminal Lame of a Grand Guard from the Armor Garniture of George Clifford (1558–1605), Third Earl of Cumberland

Jacob Halder

1586

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