Pauldron for Right shoulder (c. 1560–70): Art, History and Details

Pauldron for Right shoulder (c. 1560–70) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This element for the shoulder once belonged to a suit decorated by the bluing technique, a process of superheating armor plates to achieve a deep blue color. Bluing required heating to at least 590 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at which oxidation occurs. Although the original color is now darkened it would have originally been a deep shade of blue. It was further enhanced with gilding to create additional contrast for a refined appearance.

Object facts

• Title: Pauldron for Right shoulder
• Date: c. 1560–70
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, blued and gilded
• Dimensions: Overall: 26.4 x 28 cm (10 3/8 x 11 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1528

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

• Gilchrist, Helen Ives. 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.