TURKEY, LATE 16TH OR EARLY 17TH CENTURY

The tombak helmet was an element of parade armour, replacing the steel example that would be worn into battle. The form was identical, as is demonstrated by a steel helmet of exactly this form, at one time on the London art market (Hales, London, 2013, no.784, p.325). The holes and traces of wear show that in addition to the chain of mail that would have surrounded the sides, at the front there would have been a visor through which would have passed the adjustable nose guard. There is a vertical band of wear at the front which clearly shows where the nose-guard would have been. The form, with vertical facets rather than the rounded ribs shown here, complete with visor and nose guard, can be seen in an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Alexander, New York, 2015, no36, pp.102-103). The catalogue entry to that helmet notes another of similar form in the Askeri Museum in Istanbul, like the New York example with the moulded decoration between plain upper and lower borders, which is inscribed with the name of the Vizier Hasan Pasha who died in 997/1588-9.