The Armour Archive

Are there any examples of a steel breastplate worn in conjunction with a brigandine back?

Not even a belly plackart about a brig -- we understand shiny steel below and studs in leather above is indicative of a plackart in the white and the plate breast covered in leather or suitably gorgeous fabric. A style feature, meseems. Good looking as all git out, and not much done. Spares you some bother finishing the metal as you cement suède onto it and stud it with speed rivets mostly about the edges, some across the field. Lightly semé, in heraldic-oid terms. (Suède 'n' speedies is the budget recipe for SCA. Living History probably calls for grain leather in upholstery weight and something more like modified roofing nails for the riveting.)

Did you really want a brig rig like you described? And why? If it's shop/metalworking limitations and you want 15th century, what's wrong with a complete brigandine body defense in the first place? It doesn't take super metalworking craft to make brig scales even of metal.

I've already got a breast plate, and I do have shop restrictions.

Eh. Then for rigorous authenticitoidery, I'd use a gambeson and reinforce it within, using concealed plastic. Kidneys, spine and such.

Sort of...not legit historical evidence, but an artistic rendition of it. I also forget the name of the saint in the painting, but something like this: