Helmet (c. 1560–80): Art, History and Details

Helmet (c. 1560–80) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This helmet was developed for the joust, a sporting combat of arms between two mounted contestants. This example shows the asymmetry of jousting armor. The participants rode along a wall-like barrier known as a "tilt" with their left sides facing. Consequently, armor on that side of the body tended to be thicker. The breath holes in the helmet were placed on the right side (farthest from an opponent's lance) to avoid injuries from splinters. The popularity of jousts and tournaments peaked around 1500 and required armor and other sporting equipment adapted for the endlessly varied games. By the reign of Emperor Maximilian I (1493–1519), there were at least 11 different forms of mounted jousts, exclusive of the numerous ceremonial combats on foot using such weapons as swords, halberds, pikes, and throwing axes. Each blow in the contest, especially favored in Germany, was carefully numbered and prescribed by rules.

Object facts

• Title: Helmet
• Date: c. 1560–80
• Culture: Germany, Saxony, 16th century
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel
• Dimensions: Overall: 34.5 x 32 x 22 cm (13 9/16 x 12 5/8 x 8 11/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1502

A detail from the museum

Jousting contestants wore armor and charged at each other full speed on horseback, attempting to dismount the other with a lance. Such equipment protected contestants from injury, much like the helmet worn by football players today.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], 1900.
• Hôtel des Ventes, Beauvais. Catalogue des armes & armures, habit de Mestre de Camp composant la collection de M. le Marquis de Belleval et de Licques. Jan 21-23, 1901. Lot 261.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. 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: Cleveland museum of art, 1924.

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.