Gallery 347, Arms and Armor, third floor (Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Galleries)
Main Building
Gallery 347, Arms and Armor, third floor (Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Galleries)
Main Building
This cuirass is a rare, high-quality survival from what was once a robust industry in armor production in Cologne, Germany. Metal studs running down the front evoke buttons, and the overall silhouette channels contemporaneous waistcoat fashions in fabric versions for civilians.
Much of what we know about the armor comes directly from the object itself, as an etched inscription along the neck offers a brief biography that translates as "In the year ’71 this armor was made in Cologne for the skipper Kunz van Unckel to be used in battle and strife as God may will, in the year 1571." The armor’s patron, Kunz van Unckel, was no elite nobleman or prince but a member of the working upper-middle class. Records specify that Unckel was a shipman who transported goods into Cologne’s busy port.
Gallery 347, Arms and Armor, third floor (Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Galleries)
Titles: | Upper-Body Defense (Waistcoat Cuirass with Pauldrons |
Date: | 1571 |
Artists: | Artist/maker unknown, German Made for Shipman Cuntz van Unckel |
Medium: | Iron alloy (steel), partially etched and blackened; copper alloy (brass); leather |
Dimensions: | Height (down the center of the front): 19 3/8 inches (49.2 cm) Height (down the center of the back): 21 7/16 inches (54.5 cm) Width (across the midpoints of the shoulders): 17 1/4 inches (43.8 cm) Waist: 40 3/4 inches (103.5 cm) Depth: 13 3/8 inches (34 cm) Weight: 19.5 lb. (8.84 kg) |
Classification: | Arms and Armor |
Credit Line: | Bequest of Carl Otto Kretzschmar von Kienbusch, 1977 |
Accession Number: | 1977-167-25 |
Geography: | Made in Cologne, Germany, Europe |
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Gallery 347, Arms and Armor, third floor (Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Galleries)
Main Building