AN ITALIAN BREASTPLATE C.1570

This breastplate formed part of an armor from one of the many private armories in Italy which supplied family guards or militias. Those units varied from several dozen to, in some cases, thousands of troops serving a noble family directly as well as in alliances with other families. Its elegant ridged rounded form with rolled and roped arms and converging roped neck indicate that it is from a half armor and would have originally been mounted with a fauld of two or three plates and articulated tassets and would have served an infantry soldier. Height: 18 3/4"