Some time after Pennsic I got to go to NYC for a business trip. Not to miss an opportunity I wandered through the Met. While there I noticed a helm I had not payed much attention to before:
Close Helmet for the Tourney
Etched steel
Attributed to Kolman Helmschmid
(1471-1532)
German (Ausburg), about 1515-1520
The visor is fitted with an unusual reinforce, which suggests that the helmet was originally part of a garniture.
Bashford Dean Memorial Collection
Bequest of Bashford Dean, 1928
29.150.6a
What caught my eye was the etching on the reinforcement plate. While it's possible that the etching could be based on the artist imagination it is much more likely that the etching depicts the contemporary style of tourney visor of the time period, sort of like 'air scoops' for cars that don't need them. The amazing thing is, unlike an illustration that is limited by page size and pen width, this gives us a nice sense of scale and proportion. I'm sure that if the bars were smaller or larger they could have been shown the size they actually were...
Anyway, I'm looking for ANY other images or information about this helm. If you know something or know of a book that may contain some information I would love to hear it. Ideally I'm dying to know what's UNDER the reinforce plate.
Thanks in advance,
Sean
[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239/Eliz-Rivenstar/Seans%20Shop/Photo0035.jpg[/img]