The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

Pikeman’s Armor

Pikeman’s Armor

c. 1620–30
steel with brass rivets and black paint
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1923.1063
Location: 210A Armor Court

Did You Know?

With its chevron decoration, this armor is slightly more decorative than most pikeman, suggesting that an officer could have owned it.

Description

Pikemen formed the backbone of infantry tactics through the end of the English Civil Wars (1642–51). Since muskets alone were ineffective against cavalry charges, companies of pikemen, armed with pikes, or spears, of 12 to 16 feet in length, were deployed in defensive formations to protect the musketeers, who wore no armor. A pikeman was usually equipped with a breastplate and backplate, hinged tassets reaching to mid-thigh, and sometimes a gorget, or neck piece, worn over a heavy buffcoat. High boots replaced leg armor. A brimmed, high-combed helmet known as a "pot" protected the head. Pikeman's armor withstood hard service. It was colored and treated (though the black paint seen here is modern) to control rusting and to add decorative interest.
  • Bashford Dean (1867-1928), New York, NY
    1923
    [Sale: The American Art Galleries, New York, NY, sale 23-24, November 1923, lots 227c, 227i].
    1923-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Gilchrist, Helen Ives, and Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Severance Collection of Arms and Armor. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. 2nd ed., 1948. Mentioned: p. 16; Reproduction: p. 27 archive.org
    Fliegel, Stephen N. "An English Pikeman's Armor from the Severance Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 7 (1994): 252-67. Reproduced: p. 252-53; Mentioned: p. 252-267 www.jstor.org
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. pp. 101, 162; cat. no. 4
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. cat. no. 7, p. 182
  • {{cite web|title=Pikeman’s Armor|url=false|author=|year=c. 1620–30|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1923.1063