A NORTH ITALIAN CABASSET C.1570

This helmet, made of one piece, is from a well-known group with examples in a number of public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (illustrated Historical Guide to Arms and Armor, p.98). Its elegant form represents the extreme for its type, the majority of which are much shorter. The projection at the top, sometimes referred to as a "pear stalk", as well, is in its fully evolved form, extrapolating the line of the front ridge of the helmet. The brim with an elegant shallow recurve in profile and rounded pointed ends indicative of this early period as later (c.1600) examples were rounder. At the time, the cabasset was the helmet of the foot soldier comprising part of a half armor with breast, back, tassets, and usually, full arms with gauntlets. The armors from which these helmets derive would have been of superior quality throughout. At 9 3/4” height, it is among the tallest of the group which contributes to its elegant form.