Thomas Del Mar - Armour Sale

299299A FINE FLEMISH CUIRASSIER'S HELMET, CIRCA 1620-30with egg-shaped skull formed in two pieces joined mediallyby rivets, fitted at the nape with a plume-holder andembossed with a pattern of V-shaped flutes radiating froma small acorn finial riveted through a large pierced rosettewasher, and the flutes divided by roped ribs, the peak,face-defence and bevor attached to the skull by commonpivots, the peak decorated at its brow with flutes and ropedribs serving as a continuation of the skull, the flat facedefencecut at each side with elaborately fretted ventilationholesand at its upper edge with a broad rectangular notchforming the lower edge of the vision-slit (the centraldivision chipped), well-formed bevor retained by a strapand buckle passing around the front of the neck from eachside of the skull, gorget of three plates front and rear, thelowest in each case descending to an obtuse central point,the helmet decorated at its main edges with roped inwardturns, at its subsidiary edges with pairs of incised linesrepeated to either sides of the crests of the flutes on theskull and peak (pitted overall, minor damage and repairs)This belongs to a distinctive group of high quality Flemisharmours now mainly preserved in the Real Armeria, Madrid(A380-401 & 414-21). A number of them may be identifiedas the work of the 'Master MP', purchased for Phillip IV ofSpain in Brussels in 1624 and 1625. See Karcheski Jr 1985,p. 307-14). Other examples from this group are preservedin the Musée de l'Armée, Paris (H.150), the HermitageMuseum, St. Petersburg (Z.O. 3288), the Livrustkammaren,Stockholm (2635), the Art Institute, Chicago (2661), and theSmith Art Museum, Springfield ( 17.23.9)). See also thehelmet on the three quarter armour sold in these rooms,14th of December 2005, lot 114.£7000-9000118