Close Helmet (from a funerary achievement?)
1590–1625
- Medium
- gilded steel (invaded with rust); red velvet lining, plume holder
- Dimensions
- Overall: 33 x 34 x 21.3 cm (13 x 13 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
- Genre
- arms and armor
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Tags
Holland (?), late 16th-early 17th Century
About
This helmet was originally intended for field use. Later, it seems to have served a funerary purpose, probably as an ornament (known as a funerary achievement) suspended over the church tomb of an unidentified knight. As such, it would have been a rich and imposing symbol of the dead knight's social rank and personal authority.