Gothic Backplate
1450–1499
- Medium
- steel, modern leather straps
- Dimensions
- Overall: 44.5 x 34.5 x 16.5 cm (17 1/2 x 13 9/16 x 6 1/2 in.)
- Genre
- arms and armor
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Germany, late 15th Century
About
Over time the increasing effectiveness of the crossbow and longbow made steel plates necessary for protection. Around 1400 a knight was protected almost entirely by plate armor. The elements shown here (backplate and fan-shaped pauldrons), with their sculptural line, illustrate the beauty of plate armor from the Gothic age.