Plate Helmet with Brim
Full Description:
The bowl of this helmet is formed from twelve overlapping iron plates, which have been attached together with twenty-four domed rivets, which are visible on the external surface of the helmet. The outer plates are cusped, drawn to steep points. Along the base of the helmet are a series of fourteen rivet holes which may have been used to attach a nape defence of some kind. At its front, the helmet is fitted with a concentric brim, riveted at three points. At the top of the bowl is the convex finial plate with a central hole for a missing plume tube, which is secured by six rivets. At the top of the bowl is the convex finial plate with a central hole for a missing plume tube.
The helmet shares design features with a Tibet helmet now in the Metropolitan Museum[1], notably the cusped plates, which are very similar. It also shares some features with a Korean or Mongolian helmet used in Tibet, which is also in the Metropolitan Museum[2] , in particular, the shallow bowl and the brim. This could be a coincidence, or it could be that they were both fitted with brims at the same time, or one merely being an inspiration of the other.