Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Cuirass (Torso Defense)

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	1 Classification Curatorial Countries of Origin

European Decorative Arts and Sculpture

Cuirass (Torso Defense)

Made in Germany, Europe
or Poland, Europe

c. 1580

Artist/maker unknown, German. Made for Prince Nikolaus Christoph Radziwill, 1548 - 1616, or his cousin Prince Christoph Nikolaus Radziwill I, 1543 - 1603.

Etched and partially blackened and gilded steel; brass; leather (replaced)
Height (down the center at the front): 27 11/16 inches (70.3 cm) Height (down the center at the back): 17 15/16 inches (45.6 cm) Circumference (beneath the armholes): 61 9/16 inches (156.3 cm) Waist (breatsplate): 29 13/16 inches (75.8 cm) Weight: 7.21g

* Gallery 247, Arms and Armor, second floor (Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Galleries)

1977-167-158

Bequest of Carl Otto Kretzschmar von Kienbusch, 1977

Label

This cuirass was originally part of an armor tailored for a very large nobleman who belonged to the prominent Radziwill family of Lithuania and Poland. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, it remained in its original armory in a castle owned by a branch of the family in Lithuania. The hole visible in the breastplate is probably the result of rust from poor maintenance rather than combat-inflicted damage.

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