Chalcis items in the Met

Klaus the Red · Post by **Klaus the Red** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:15 pm

I'm fixin' to reprint and bind my PDFs of Boccia's and ffoulkes' articles on the Chalcis find for my library, along with my motley collection of photos of said items. I'm hoping someone can clear this up for me: exactly which items in the 14th century/Bashford Dean corner of the Met's armor wing are known without question to come from Chalcis, and which are from elsewhere? My current assumptions are as follows..,

Yes: All the sallets/bascinets in the first case on the left-hand wall, likewise all the brigandine lung- and backplates.

Yes: all the armets, sallets and bits of arm harness and gauntlets in the second case.

Maybe: the components of the standing composed suit.

Maybe: the complete 14th-century left vambrace and the 15th century left lower cannon in the first case.

No: Anything on the wall facing the doorway (the case with the globose BP and the "Joan of Arc" bascinet).

How's my score so far?

Klaus

lorenzo2 · Post by **lorenzo2** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:03 am

Boccia states that the helmet on the composed suit is not from Chalcis. As far as I know you have the rest right. Also, there are some doubles of the arm and torso armor that are not in display according to some older cataloges.

Klaus the Red · Post by **Klaus the Red** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:43 am

Thanks- how about the earlier vambraces on display? Neither Boccia nor ffoulkes go into much detail about what the balance of the non-helmet pieces were.

lorenzo2 · Post by **lorenzo2** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:53 pm

IIRC there are some notes on the Chalcis armor in Studies of European Armor, a book containing articles about the armor in the Art Museum in Philadelphia. Of course you may already have that book. As to the vambrace, no clue but the brass borders on the one piece looked fishy to me.

Klaus the Red · Post by **Klaus the Red** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:03 pm

That book is on my wish list. As for the Met arm, it's not just the borders which are latten but the fan as well (or at least an applique cover for the steel). It looked authentic enough to me when I looked at it last in person, and I don't know if I want to give Dean enough credit for faking details of that complexity.