The Armour Archive

Tracy Justus

By the mid 1400's, post 1450, I have seen no evidence for any padding of a doublet visually, save for these mahoitered sleeves, and there are a number of illustrations in paintings of high quality and detail showing people with doublets open to the waist, and turned down exposing the interior of th...

Tracy Justus

Hmmm, sound like a visit to The Cloisters is in order. And whaddyaknow, the Met has a special exhibit on [url=http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={705E631E-B6AF-4C2A-9F68-69C9EA6DB5C2}] 14th century Bohemia [/url] coming up. I don't need to consult a fortune cookie to know tha...

Tracy Justus

Look for Die Parler und der schÃƒÂ¶ne Stil 1350-1400 by Anton Legner (1978). This is a 5 volume(!) catalogue from a major exhibition in Cologne. Volume 1-3 is the catalogue and contains numerous black and white photos. Volume 4 is a series of illustrated essays and volume 5 contains color plates. Us...

Tracy Justus

The book Chef is refering to is: Eames, Penelope. Furniture in England, France and the Netherlands from the twelfth to the fifteenth century / by Penelope Eames. London : The Furniture History Society, 1977. xxiv, 303 p., 72 p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 25 cm. (cut-and-paste from the LoC catalogue)...

Tracy Justus

Check out Tom Rettie's website . For a breakdown chest, I find his knock-down hutch appealing. We have several benches made after the technique developed by David Kuijt (with Peter Adams's modification) described in this article and they have held up well over years of use. We used 5/4 stair tread f...

Tracy Justus

The photos Marianne sent me were some Mac took for archival purposes. I doubt he took any of the insides. Perhaps Dr. Capwell might provide some? The saddle was completely custom built by Mac from the tree out and not a converted modern saddle. I think the initial dimensions were provided by Dr. Cap...

Tracy Justus

Mac's wife Marianne sent me these pictures of the Capwell harness and the saddle which Mac said I could share with the Archive. Some of the images are over 500k in order to see the detail of the decoration. This is what she told me about it: "The decoration is basically repousee and/or stamping. The...

Tracy Justus

Thanks, I'd heard that there was an image from the Luttrell psalter showing a man in garters but that illumination isn't in the British Library selections. I don't dispute that garters existed; women wore garters. What I'm saying is that I've been unable to find evidence that men wore garters in the...

Tracy Justus

Wulfe, why do you think you need garters? I have not been able to find any garters in illuminations of late 14th c. men, other than single ceremonial ones (like for the Order of the Garter). The closest I've found to an image that looks like it could be interpreted as a garter is this one from the L...

Tracy Justus

I use African Wonderstone (yes, stupid name, I don't know the proper geological name) from the Compleat Sculptor in NYC. Billy and Charlie use the same stone for their molds, so I know when my carving isn't up to their quality I can't blame the material! The Compleat Sculptor charges a cutting fee i...

Tracy Justus

Try Dragon #5 from the Company of Saynte George.

Clare

Tracy Justus

Well, you haven't pinned down your time and place beyond '14th century' but I'll take a stab at it. Add a shoulder-buttoned cloak, like you see on this wool merchant or William of Hatfield . If your persona is wealthy enough to have full garments of silk brocade then I think the wool garments should...

Tracy Justus

From Schloss Runkelstein, the Tristram and Isolde frescos, Isolde (far right).

Clare

Tracy Justus

I saw most of this harness in Mac's shop about a year ago but I had no idea of the sort of finish and trim work that was intended for it. Wow! I think that's the handsomest suit that Mac's ever built. Here's another picture where you can see the distinctive English pauldrons. Are there any close-ups...

Tracy Justus

Well, there's this image from BNF Richelieu Manuscrits FranÃƒÂ§ais 598 f. 103v, from the 15th c... before 1425, by the look of the clothing and armor.

Clare

Tracy Justus

Thank you, Tasha. From the images I have seen Tracy, they most definately are wearing mail standards - I can't think of a single example of a close fitting rigid plate defence totally encompassing the throat in Northern Europe prior to the 16th century - can anyone else? I did not suggest that they ...

Tracy Justus

Are the attendents in scale to each other? I think from my looking at the photographs I have seen of this object, that they are in descending sizes, based probably on the importance of the depicted person. Yes, the groom and horse are smaller than the King and attendant, who are in turn smaller tha...

Tracy Justus

I had the chance to examine the 'Golden Horse' statuette in the 'Paris 1400' exhibit last year. The garments worn by the two attendants are similar, but not identical. The main difference is in the neckline and waist-- the groom has a high collar and a belt (with a pouch twisted around to the small ...

Tracy Justus

There was an active 14th and 15th century industry in England carving small high-relief religious panels in alabaster, and the death and resurrection of Christ was a popular subject. Generally there are soldiers in those scenes. The V&A has a large collection. 14th c: A.61-1926 A.110-1946 15th c: A....

Tracy Justus

Ah, the Little Golden Horse . That was a New Year's gift from Queen Isabeau to King Charles VI in 1405. The King is at the feet of the Virgin and Child and he's wearing armor, with an open sleeve surcoat (or gown, as Chef says) of blue powdered overall with gold fleur-de-lis. Actually, the pattern o...

Tracy Justus

My hazy recollection, from a long-ago conversation, is that Mac carved his spoon mold before he had seen a surviving spoon mold, and so his placement of the pouring gate was conjectural. Have you emailed them? I'm not sure what you mean by the bowl not being in the same plane as the handle. Some spo...

Tracy Justus

Apollonia, My understanding from what Claude Blair wrote (and Kohlmorgen cribbed) is that the wood is covered on the front with canvas, then paper, then leather, and the leather was tooled, painted, and gilded. There is no mention of the leather being covered in gesso and in fact if it was one would...

Tracy Justus

In Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400 (1987, ISBN 0 297 79190 7) Claude Blair notes: Shield poplar wood, covered with canvas and faced with paper covered with leather, heraldic charges applied in moulded leather (filled with gesso?) h. 73 cm This is heater-shaped and slightly conc...

Tracy Justus

Marcele, how did you deal with the padding at the center front? Does the full thickness go to the front opening, or did you grade it? Did the padding cause any difficulties in stitching the buttonholes?

Clare

Tracy Justus

My guess is that it is in the Luneburg Rathaus (town hall complex) which seems to have some galleries with artifacts of interest (see photo #22, the Obere Gewandhaus). The only other museum listing I found is the Salt Museum, which seems unlikely. I too am interested in whatever you find out. Clare

Tracy Justus

Cool, NB! So are the timbl bein deliberately smoothed on the inside of the bone? That would make sense if a cord is running through them. I see from your pictures that some of them are decorated. I don't know much about this time/culture-- is this amount and quality of decoration typical of other to...

Tracy Justus

Interesting artifacts. Are they round or half-round? Are there any patterns of wear on them?

Clare

Tracy Justus

Later than you are looking for, and allegorical to boot, but a couple of interesting images of armor being carried:

15th century
c. 1400

Clare

Tracy Justus

Chef-- Has Patrick Thaden put his maker's mark on this piece? I know that marking pieces that are as-accurate-as-feasible has become a concern for some armorers so I wondered if he's marked and dated this helmet. If not he should consider doing so.

Regards, Clare

Tracy Justus

The Arnold article is from Church Monuments The Journal of the Church Monuments Society Vol VIII 1993.

Capwell's article is from '02 or '03, I think, in Waffen-und Kostumkund.

UNC-CH has copies of W&K through the late 80s when they discontinued their subscription. They are non-circulating.

Tracy Justus

Therre's a brace and bit and an auger in the Merode Altarpiece . There's an auger in the 'Building the Ark' from the Bedford Hours . Another auger is in The Book of Trades by Jost Amman and Hans Sachs (1568) in the picture of the wagonwright. Surviving spoonbits were found in the Mastermyr chest . I...

Tracy Justus

Thanks for the tip, Ernst. The Middle English Collection is a useful resource. I bookmarked it and look forward to browsing it when I have more leisure.

Clare

Tracy Justus

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an exhibit on through January 30, [url=http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={558496FA-DE64-4F3E-9CB7-81F0462E4060}] Princely Splendor: the Dresden Court 1580-1620. [/url] Has anyone seen this exhibit? What's the armor like, and how much is the...

Tracy Justus

The Met bascinet (ex-Chalcis) has 6 skull creases and no holes for a visor (personal observation); the Musee de l'Armee bascinet has 4 skull creases and no holes for a visor (Laking, vol. I p 226&228). Ffoulkes describes in his 1911 article on the armor from Chalcis a visored bascinet: "the crown is...

Tracy Justus

Whoops, made a mistake-- the BP's gauntlets have leather gloves. (embroidered with silk, how luxurious!) Looking at pics of the gauntlets from Churburg 13 and 18 (OK, 18 is very early 15th c) they both seem to be plain weave linen(?). The Company of the Elephant has a gorgeous repro of the CH S18 ga...

More pictures of the Capwell harness by MacPherson

Met 'Dresden Court' exhibition- anybody seen it?