Triple-Crested Burgonet (c. 1560–70): Art, History and Details

Triple-Crested Burgonet (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:

Popular throughout the 1500s and 1600s, the burgonet was a light, open headpiece favored by cavalry and infantry alike. Its main features are a peak over the eyes and hinged cheekpieces that fasten with a strap or lace under the chin. The basic helmet lent itself to variations of design or ornamentation. This version, with its triple crests, is known to have been produced in Augsburg. The style was worn by the bodyguard of Emperor Charles V (ruled 1519-56).

Object facts

• Title: Triple-Crested Burgonet
• Date: c. 1560–70
• Culture: Germany, possibly Augsburg
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, leather bands
• Dimensions: Overall: 28 x 30.2 x 21.3 cm (11 x 11 7/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1804.a

A detail from the museum

The open face of the burgonet meant it was a lighter and cheaper to manufacture than closed face helmets, it also allowed the wearer to see more freely, the trade off was less protection for the face.

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.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Helen Ives Gilchrist. Handbook of the Severance Collection of Arms and Armor. Cleveland, O.: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.
• Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.

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.