Close Helmet
- Artist Culture
- probably French
- Date
- 1550–55
- Classification
- Arms & armor, metalwork
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 125
- Dimensions
- 12 3/4 x 8 x 14 1/2 in. (32.4 x 20.3 x 36.8 cm)
weight: 5 lb. 5 oz. (2.4 kg) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Contact Us
- Object Number
- 79:1939
NOTES
This is the type of helmet most often associated with the popular image of the armored knight. It evolved from earlier types to produce a closely fitting, highly protective, yet relatively light helmet. The small size of this helmet suggests that it was for a youth, probably a member of a noble family who was in training for knighthood. Its surface is decorated with bands of gilded and etched foliation, in the style found in Renaissance art.
Provenance
before 1848 - c.1871
Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (1783–1848), Hereford & Worcs, England; William Meyrick, by inheritance, Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, England [1]
c.1880 - 1922
Henry Arthur Brassey (1840-1891) Preston Hall, Kent, England, and Leonard Brassey, by inheritance, England, purchased en bloc [2]
1922/02/21
Sold at auction, "The Brassey Sale of the Dr. William Meyrick Collection," Christie, Manson and Woods, London, February 21, 1922, lot 159 [3]
1922 - 1939
Clarence H. Mackay (1874–1938), Roslyn, Long Island, New York, NY, USA [4]
1939 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from the estate of Clarence H. Mackay, through Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., New York, NY [5]
Notes:
[1] Sir Meyrick's collection was loaned by his grandson William Meyrick for exhibition at the South Kensington Museum, London, in 1868; 79:1939 was listed as catalogue number 400, 610 or 611. The collection was dispersed beginning in around 1871 [Planché, J. R. "Catalogue of the Armour and Miscellaneous Objects of Art, known as the Meyrick Collection." London: George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1869; Macy. L., ed. "Meyrick, Sir Samuel Rush," Grove Dictionary of Art Online, accessed Febuary 8, 2003,].
[2] According to the scholar Walter Karcheski Jr., Brassey bought the helmet and other objects from the Meyrick collection "en bloc" around 1880; Karcheski does not specify if Brassey dealt directly with Meyrick [Notes, SLAM document files].
[3] In 1922, Leonard Brassey sold a large selection of Meyrick objects, including 79:1939, which was illustrated in the catalogue [Cripps-Day, Francis Henry. "A Record of Armour Sales 1881-1924." London: G. Bell and Sons, 1925, p. 240, fig. 176; 241]. Karcheski notes that the helmet sold at the 1922 auction and was probably purchased on behalf of Clarence H. Mackay [Notes, SLAM document files].
[4] See note [3]
[5] Notes on the accession record and in the Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, June 8, 1939, indicate that the helmet was part of the Mackay collection, and purchased through Jacques Seligmann & Co. The helmet is identified in the Minutes as Seligmann No. E5 164.
Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (1783–1848), Hereford & Worcs, England; William Meyrick, by inheritance, Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, England [1]
c.1880 - 1922
Henry Arthur Brassey (1840-1891) Preston Hall, Kent, England, and Leonard Brassey, by inheritance, England, purchased en bloc [2]
1922/02/21
Sold at auction, "The Brassey Sale of the Dr. William Meyrick Collection," Christie, Manson and Woods, London, February 21, 1922, lot 159 [3]
1922 - 1939
Clarence H. Mackay (1874–1938), Roslyn, Long Island, New York, NY, USA [4]
1939 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from the estate of Clarence H. Mackay, through Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., New York, NY [5]
Notes:
[1] Sir Meyrick's collection was loaned by his grandson William Meyrick for exhibition at the South Kensington Museum, London, in 1868; 79:1939 was listed as catalogue number 400, 610 or 611. The collection was dispersed beginning in around 1871 [Planché, J. R. "Catalogue of the Armour and Miscellaneous Objects of Art, known as the Meyrick Collection." London: George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1869; Macy. L., ed. "Meyrick, Sir Samuel Rush," Grove Dictionary of Art Online, accessed Febuary 8, 2003,
[2] According to the scholar Walter Karcheski Jr., Brassey bought the helmet and other objects from the Meyrick collection "en bloc" around 1880; Karcheski does not specify if Brassey dealt directly with Meyrick [Notes, SLAM document files].
[3] In 1922, Leonard Brassey sold a large selection of Meyrick objects, including 79:1939, which was illustrated in the catalogue [Cripps-Day, Francis Henry. "A Record of Armour Sales 1881-1924." London: G. Bell and Sons, 1925, p. 240, fig. 176; 241]. Karcheski notes that the helmet sold at the 1922 auction and was probably purchased on behalf of Clarence H. Mackay [Notes, SLAM document files].
[4] See note [3]
[5] Notes on the accession record and in the Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, June 8, 1939, indicate that the helmet was part of the Mackay collection, and purchased through Jacques Seligmann & Co. The helmet is identified in the Minutes as Seligmann No. E5 164.