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Cuirass (Breastplate and Backplate) in the Late Gothic Style

A work made of steel, brass, and leather.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of steel, brass, and leather.

Date:

c. 1480

Artist:

South German or Austrian

About this artwork

Sculpted with sleek rippled surfaces and decorative cut edges, this cuirass typifies late gothic German armor. A rare survival, it is fabled to have come out of a church in the Austrian Tyrol at the turn of the 20th century. It may have adorned a shrine figure of Saint George or hung over a noble’s tomb.

The heavily pitted exterior attests to centuries of neglect, and a redblistered area of the interior is evidence it was in a fire. The right side of the breastplate below the waist was carefully restored in London around 1917.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Title

Cuirass (Breastplate and Backplate) in the Late Gothic Style

Place

Germany (Object Possibly made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1475–1485

Medium

Steel, brass, and leather

Dimensions

H.: 60 cm (23 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Chester D. Tripp Estate Fund

Reference Number

2013.480

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/219955/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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