ARMORER’S ARM WITH GLOVE AND PAULDRON

Ancient and prestigious arm of a suit of armor in forged iron, with a glove and pauldron, richly etching decorated, manufactured in one of those flourishing workshops of master armorers active in Northern Italy during the sixteenth century.

Starting from the thirteenth century on, the suit of armor, a decorative war element, has always been a typical privilege of aristocrats and high officers, reserved for pikemen in the first army ranks.

The most courageous, the highest-ranking officers, or the richest ones had their positioning in the first army ranks, even if the last two groups did not have the same requisites as the first one.

The defensive suits of armor of the time were reserved for commanders, officers, or the so-called “doppio soldo” (double coin) – meaning those warriors who could buy these suits of armor.

The city of Milan flourished in the field of making defensive outfits such as armors, shields, helmets, and everything that could be part of the art of war, during the sixteenth and seventeenth braided cord armor, operating in what is still called today Via degli Spadari, to grab at least one piece made in the Milanese city, representing a real economic and social emblem of power on and off the battlefield.

This arm of a defensive suit of armor belongs to the Milanese manufacturers of the 1500s. It was certainly part of an entire defensive suit of armor, then dismantled over the centuries, and is made up of an arm, vambrace, elbow piece, glove, and pauldron, made in forged iron and richly etching carved with ribbed motives interspersed with foliaceous elements framing the different components. The pauldron has a large central decoration like a coat of arms framed by vegetable spirals, but today almost completely abraded and illegible, put aside by an engraved medallion with a male profile. Finally, the entire work has gilded metal rivets decorations, typical of this type of sixteenth-century defensive set.

This work, assembled on modern support, is in a good state of conservation and represents a peculiar addition to the catalog of defensive suits of armor made in Northern Italy during the sixteenth century.