The Armour Archive

Tracy Justus

A friend of mine recently went to France and took a picture of the statue- here is the original. It is from Chartres.

Clare

Tracy Justus

I received my copy a few days ago and am very pleased with my purchase. It is full of information about recreating men's and women's clothing, with lots of useful line drawings, photos of surviving garments and details of paintings that I've never seen before, like one of German laundresses. Histori...

Tracy Justus

I would LOVE to see those other illustrations (I'll send you my private contact info?? pretty please??). It might give some insight on why King Sifax looks like he's wearing late 14th c doublet. The whole historical figure wearing traditional blah, blah, blah. Toby Capwell wrote an article publishe...

Tracy Justus

Again, not a center pivot visor, but there's a side pivot in the background of the Betrayal from The Hours of Jeanne d'Ãƒâ€°vreux, ca. 1324Ã¢â‚¬â€œ1328 in the Cloisters. (Note: the link is zoomable.) The profile is similar to the center pivot in Zurich.

Clare

Tracy Justus

Cet- you might be interested in this image from German Wikipedia. (Click to see an enlargement.) It's a fragment of fresco from Santa Croce, Florence, painted by Andrea di Cione (called Orcagna) around 1345. It's an interesting fresco because it shows an early use of the imagery from Dante's Divine ...

Tracy Justus

Sabine--- The bulk of the TrÃƒÂ¨s Riches Heures was indeed painted in the early 15th c, but the manuscript was left unfinished and was not completed until the early 1480s by Jean Colombe. In the 12 illuminations of the months Colombe painted November (a solitary hunter) and the lower half of Septemb...

Tracy Justus

The black gothic harness was taken off display when the armor galleries were revamped in the late '80s/early '90s. Too much of it was of dubious or modern construction. Some of the elements that are authentic are still on display, possibly the breastplate? I'm not sure. If this harness wasn't so ico...

Tracy Justus

Charlotte, did you include this sleeve in your survey? A color version is in From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art , Ainsworth and Christiansen, 1998. I think that's Saint Veronica in the foreground with a possible pin-on sleeve. Do you have any opi...

Tracy Justus

Thank you, that was the information I was looking for. -Clare

Tracy Justus

I was looking some textiles from the Dresden Historiches Museum on bildindex.de (path: Orte / D / Dresden / Sammlungen I / Historisches Museum / Kunstgewerbe / Textil / Bekleidung und ZubehÃƒÂ¶r) and came across this coat. ( Large pic , spread out ) Does anyone know if it survived WWII, and whether ...

Tracy Justus

The armors for man (c.1535) and horse (1554) were made by Wolfgang Grosschedel in Landshut. The armors are still on display in the central gallery at the Met, on the front right corner as you look at the calvalcade. More photos are here . For further study there's a 1975 catalogue on armors from Lan...

Tracy Justus

Ward Perkins discusses the 15th/16th c purse bar with pendant loops, and doesn't mention this sort of alms-purse at all.

I'd guess the original ring was a copper alloy- if it were an iron alloy, it would have left rust marks on the fabric, instead of a little light corrosion.

Clare

Tracy Justus

We have been pleased with the service and prices from Santa Fe Jewelers Supply . Sterling silver is 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper. It is harder than fine (100%) silver and has a lower melting point. Because it is the modern industry standard you'll be able to find the widest variety of wire, sheet etc. ...

Tracy Justus

Looks nice. It's good to see a vendor providing 13th century wares- they tend to be underrepresented in the marketplace.

Interesting choice of pattern layout- I would not have thought of doing it that way.

Clare

Tracy Justus

I saw the belt in person a year ago. The best photo I found online is this detail here , and there's a discussion of the belt's display here . The lighting is low, and because of the glass my camera had a hard time focusing on the belt, so none of my photos came out satifactorily. As you can see fro...

Tracy Justus

If you are interested in trichinopoly work have you ever had a chance to examine the belt in the Cleveland Museum of Art? It is made of silver wire and, in my opinion, done in that technique.

Best of luck to you- Clare

Tracy Justus

My sister-in-law was recently in Florence, and brought back a couple of new publications from the Stibbert Museum on their collections. La Cavalcata has two essays (in both Italian and English) on the cavalcade of armored men and horses that is central to the Stibbert's armor gallery. There are two ...

Tracy Justus

I came across this curious garment while looking for something else. It is from Yates Thompson 13, dated to 1325-1335, in the British Library.

Clare

Tracy Justus

I ordered my copy last week... also, she's going to be lecturing in the US in August, according to the 'News' section of the Tudor Tailor site-

Mon 14 to Fri 25 Aug - Proposed tour of United States & Canada, venues and events to be confirmed.

Clare

Tracy Justus

Doug- Die Manessische Liederhandschrift in ZÃƒÂ¼rich. edele frouwen - schoene man is a catalogue from a 1991 exhibit of the Manesse Codex and surviving artifacts pictured in it. Author: Brinker- von der Heyde, Claudia; Published: ZÃƒÂ¼rich, Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, 1991. The Traun helmet is par...

Tracy Justus

To expand on what Karen said-- cut them off about 2-3" above the ankle. Take out the laces. Get a pair of buckles and use the cut-off section for straps. The buckles should go about where the base of the laces were. There's a pair of early 15th c boots in Shoes and Pattens with this sort of arrangem...

Tracy Justus

At the ARS conference Wade Allen asked David Edge about the possiblity of reprinting AAotMK, and Edge said that it would never, ever be reprinted because of the cost of the photographic rights. So buy this book when you get the chance, the price will only go up.

Clare

Tracy Justus

There's a front view in 2,500 Years of European Helmets and the same view (but much smaller) in Die Manessische Liederhandschrift in ZÃƒÂ¼rich. I suspect Curtis poached a stock museum photo for his book, especially as it isn't out of focus and ill-cropped.

Clare

Tracy Justus

I can't imagine a practical purpose for a netted cap on a purse... unless it was to discourage pickpockets? (But it wouldn't work on cutpurses.) Having the purse under your skirts would be pretty effective too, I'd think. Perhaps it is a belt-and-suspenders kind of thing, and the painter's commentar...

Tracy Justus

That's a charming object, Tasha. Lucky recipient! I've been curious about how things work under the aumoniÃƒÂ¨re flap-- thanks for the pictures, and thank you Karen for digging those up. What was the brand of floss you use for the edging? I've been working on some wool-on-wool appliquÃƒÂ© but the wo...

Tracy Justus

There are some from York , like this one (ref.003443) and this one (ref. 003433). Unfortunately the site doesn't date them more precisely than 'medieval period'. There's an earlier 'viking period' tool (ref. 003402) as well. (For the associated text, put 'lucet' or 'tool' in the search window on the...

Tracy Justus

Does anyone have reference to an extant 'pendant sleeve'? The only extant pendant sleeve I know of is from the burial clothes of Cangrande della Scala . A pattern is in Le Stoffe Di Cangrande: Ritrovamenti e Ricerche Sul Trecento Veronese ed by Licisco Magagnato, 1983. The sleeve is most akin to so...

Tracy Justus

For storage, it can be packed with acid-free tissue paper in an acid free (archival) box. (I think polypropylene boxes, like Rubbermaid tubs, can be used as well.) Loose wads of tissue can be stuffed in the sleeves and torso to soften folds. Wrap the whole thing in tissue and clean muslin before put...

Tracy Justus

Jehan-- Is this event planned as a private party or a display/demo open to the public?

--Clare

Tracy Justus

Here's a picture of the Blois pourpoint's lower buttons. As you can see they look like little tympani drums. Here's a picture of the round upper buttons, and the uppermost flat one.

Clare

Tracy Justus

Cet-- In poking around I haven't found an evaluation of the 1380 inventory beyond the 19th c book Caithlinn mentions, but there's this: Archives de l'Art FranÃƒÂ§ais. Tome XXXII. Inventaire du trÃƒÂ©sor du dauphin futur Charles V. 1363. Les dÃƒÂ©buts d'un grand collectionneur, EditÃƒÂ© par Danielle ...

Tracy Justus

The copy is in Embleton's Medieval Military Costume, and he dates the original to the mid 15th century.

Clare

Tracy Justus

Thorbjorn--- Can you provide better pictures? I agree that the style is Flemish, mid 15th c. It is quite faded, but an interesting scene. If it is a copy it is a good one. If it is genuine it is quite valuable. In a Sotheby's catalogue from 1997 I found a similarly faded fragment, nearly 9'x10', c14...

Tracy Justus

In October Sotheby's is selling property from the Royal House of Hanover . The sale includes five full composite Maximillian armors, three bellows face close helmets, six 3/4 armors, six close helmets, etc. Registration for the online catalogue is free. Swords start at lot 201, armor at lot 272. The...

Tracy Justus

Tasha, I bow to your superior knowledge about the grande assiette. I wasn't aware of the 1432 cite. What country was the 'wealthy man' from? I was specifically thinking of the fashion in the Lowlands-- the latest pictoral evidence I've found for grande assiettes is from the Hours of Catherine of Cle...

Did this garment survive WWII?

New(ish) book from the Stibbert

Sotheby's armor sale