Pair of Vambraces (Arm Defenses) from a Costume Armor

Kolman Helmschmid

ca. 1525 · Steel, copper alloy, gold · Arms and Armor

This armor reproduces in steel the extravagant puffed and slashed costume of the German Landsknechte (mercenary infantry troops). The matching pieces are preserved in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris. Coming from the Radziwill armory in Nesvizh in present-day Belarus, this armor may have been made for Jerzy Herkules Radziwill (1480–1541), a powerful Polish nobleman.

Artist

Kolman Helmschmid

Date

ca. 1525

Medium

Steel, copper alloy, gold

Culture

German, Augsburg

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness Fund, 1926