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This is an ornate helmet made of dark metal with gold-colored details. It features intricate designs and patterns throughout, including symmetrical swirling and floral designs, as well as designs on the faceguard that look similar to an animal’s face, including a snarling mouth and eye holes. The lighting emphasizes the embossed and engraved elements of the helmet.
National Gallery of Art · Decorative Art
"The Morosini Helmet" (visored burgonet)
Probably Milanese 16th Century
- Date
- probably 1550/1560
- Medium
- repoussé and embossed iron or steel, with gilding and silvering
- Dimensions
- overall: 30.5 x 23.3 x 35.4 cm (12 x 9 3/16 x 13 15/16 in.)
- Classification
- Decorative Art · Armor
- Accession number
- 1942.9.356
- Credit line
- Widener Collection
- Time span
- 1501 to 1550
- Department
- CSD
Subjects and terms
- embossed
- Milanese
- European Small Bronzes before 1900
- repoussé
Provenance
Morosini family, Venice, before 1894; Countess Lauredana [sic] Gatterburg-Morosini [d. 1884]; (sale, directed by Jules Sambon and Charles Mannheim, Venice, Palazzo Morosini, 15-22 May 1894, no. 1); (Goldschmidt, Paris), until before 1913;[1] Sigismond Bardac, Paris, before 1913, as Venetian, sixteenth century;[2] (Arnold Seligmann et Cie, Paris), in 1913; purchased 21 February 1914, probably from Seligmann, by Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] Bashford Dean, "The Casque of the Morosoni." _Art in America_ 2 (April 1914): 250-251: "purchased, if my memory is right, by a syndicate of dealers represented by Goldschmidt of Paris, who outbid Mr. William H. Riggs. Thereafter Goldschmidt had the helmet at his place for some time." [2] Henri Leman, _Collection Sigismond Bardac_, Paris, 1913, no. 48. [3] Dean 1914, 250, and NGA curatorial files.
Inscription
at opposite ends of small cartouche on front of skull above visor: A.P.
NGA object ID 1516. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.