Gothic Fan-Shaped Pauldron (left) (c.1485–1500): Art, History and Details

Gothic Fan-Shaped Pauldron (left) (c.1485–1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Antonio Missaglia (Italian, 1416/17–1495/96).

The work and its context

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

When the elements that made up a suit of armor had been forged, shaped, and polished, they were inspected for fit and finish. At this stage the master armorer would use a punch to stamp each element with his maker's mark. Other associated marks might include a town or guild mark, depending on the city of origin. The set of three marks shown here are of a type known to be Milanese. The upper mark seems to show three letters beneath a crown, while the mark below, twice repeated, is a split cross with the letters inside. These probably refer to the Missaglias.

Object facts

• Title: Gothic Fan-Shaped Pauldron (left)
• Date: c.1485–1500
• Creator attribution: Antonio Missaglia (Italian, 1416/17–1495/96)
• Culture: Italy, Milan
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel
• Dimensions: Overall: 21.5 x 25.2 x 14.8 cm (8 7/16 x 9 15/16 x 5 13/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.2080.2

A detail from the museum

A pauldron is a component of plate armor that covers the shoulder and often the armpit, and parts of the back and chest as well.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, John Long Severance, Elizabeth Huntington De Witt Severance, and Helen Ives Gilchrist. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland museum of art, 1924.
• Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.
• 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.