Lamellar Shoulder Defenses

This defense for the neck and shoulders is the most complete example known of one the rarest forms of iron lamellar armor from Tibet. Lamellar armor is characterized by upwardly overlapping rows of small, finger-sized plates (called lamellae), in which the individual lamellae, and the rows they create, are joined together by an intricate system of leather lacing, requiring no other internal support fabric or lining for its structure or functionality. It is an extremely old and widespread form of body armor, with archaeological examples of leather, bronze, and later iron lamellar armor found from East Asia to the Middle East, into Western Europe, over a period of more than a thousand years. Literary and iconographic evidence documents the regular use of lamellar armor across the Mongol empire by the thirteenth century. Virtually all surviving examples, from a non-archaeological context, however, come from Tibet, where it seems to have been the predominant form of body armor from about the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century, and remained in intermittent use into the 20th century.

Complete examples of Tibetan lamellar armor are rare and usually consist of a sleeveless coat with a distinct waist and made up of twelve to fourteen rows of lamellae. A few surviving examples have attached shoulder pieces and, in one instance, complete sleeves. A removable or independent neck and shoulder defense of the kind seen here is extremely rare, with only two or three fragmentary examples being known. However, the type, and how it was worn, is recorded in great detail in Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute: The Story of Lady Wenji, an early fifteenth century Chinese painted scroll in The Met's collection (acc. no. 1973.120.3). The scroll depicts several warriors in full lamellar armor equipped with shoulder pieces of the same kind. In one particularly relevant scene, a seated commander is shown wearing complete armor, but with his neck and shoulder defense removed and being carried by his attendant. This invaluable pictorial evidence confirms the exact nature and use of an extremely rare form of lamellar armor.