-
1 of 253523 objects
Pikeman’s corselet c. 1620-30
Iron and low carbon steel | RCIN 67349
-
Pikeman’s corselet consisting of a pot, a gorget, a breastplate, a pair of tassets and a backplate. All with a bright finish and fitted with rivets of iron with domed heads.
This armour and comparable examples may have been made for infantry officers rather than for the yeomanry. Similar armours, less decorated and probably of Low Country manufacture, are shown in a number of the portraits of officers who served under Lord Vere of Tilbury in 1620.
Tests undertaken on the brim of the pot and the breastplate of the armour show them to be respectively formed of pure iron and a mixture of iron and a small amount of carburised iron (pearlite) having a carbon content of about 0.2% in places. Both pieces contain a good deal of slag. The pot and the breastplate are respectively estimated to have microhardnesses in the ranges 120–150 VPH and 100–150 VPH.
Text adapted from Norman, A.V.B, & Eaves, I. 2016 Arms and Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: European Armour, London.
Metallurgy by Williams, A, & Metcalf, S. 2016. Summary of the metallurgy of European Armour in the Royal Collection, London. Appendix II of Norman & Eaves.
Measurements: Pot: height 18.9 cm, width 28.1 cm, depth 38.8 cm; Gorget: height 21.6 cm, internal diameter of the neck front to back 15.9 cm; Breastplate: height from shoulders to bottom of waist-flange 40.7 cm, width beneath arm-openings 37.7 cm, width at waist 35.3 cm; Right Tasset: height 34.6 cm, width 38.1 cm; Left Tasset: height 34.3 cm, width 35.9 cm; Backplate: height 40.8 cm.
Weight: Pot: 1.361 kg; Gorget: 1.021 kg; Breastplate: 2.495 kg; Right Tasset: 1.417 kg; Left Tasset: 1.503 kg; Backplate: 2.495 kg.Provenance
This armour can be seen standing in the centre of the Third Room of the Carlton House Armoury in a watercolour by Augustus Charles Pugin, painted in or about 1814 (RCIN 917092). Only two entries in the Carlton House Catalogue could conceivably refer to it. No 894, and no. 944, which refer to 'A Corcelet English' and a 'Black Arquebuss' respectively, both describe an armour 'consisting of a Body piece with Iron Skirts with hinges –a Shoulder piece...studded with Iron Studs –the Head piece, Morion'.
The corselet is probably item no. 2053 in the North Corridor Inventory of Windsor Castle, described as 'The Armour of a Pikeman Officer. English workmanship and fashion' and recorded on the Grand Staircase 'by the door the King Charles II DR'. -
Creator(s)
(nationality) -
Medium and techniques
Iron and low carbon steel
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Place of Production
Greenwich [London]
