Cabacete (Helmet) (c. 1480s–90s): Art, History and Details

Cabacete (Helmet) (c. 1480s–90s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This tall open-face cabacete, alternately known as a "kettle hat" or "war hat" and ancestor of the later morion popular during the 1500s, would have been worn by an infantry soldier, not a mounted knight. The helmet has a conical point and a broad swooping brim, and its user may have worn a bevor, or separate chin piece, to protect his lower face and throat. He may also have worn a brigandine, or canvas doublet lined with metal plates, to protect his torso. Infantry troops were generally armed with hafted weapons such as a bill or halberd.

Object facts

• Title: Cabacete (Helmet)
• Date: c. 1480s–90s
• Culture: Spain, late 15th century
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel
• Dimensions: Overall: 27.3 x 26 x 36.5 cm (10 3/4 x 10 1/4 x 14 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 2012.39

A detail from the museum

This helmet intentionally mimics in steel the shape of a brimmed hat and is unique to Spain.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.