Some armours made inexpensively for poor knights or common soldiers bore no decoration whatsoever, but this was not the norm. Even low-quality armour often had some form of decoration, however crudely executed, and the finest and most expensive armour served largely as a canvas upon which the decorator worked from a large pallet of techniques to enhance the aesthetic value of the armour as well as serve as a
conspicuous indicator of the wealth of the patron.
265
London, Wallace Collection, partial armour attributed to Kolman Helmschmied, A30. See Figure 46.
266
There are many ways to decorate armour, which can be divided into methods which are additive and methods that are reductive. A third category overlaps with hammer work and consists of embossing. Additive methods are any that are achieved through applying something to the plate, such as copper alloy or gilt borders, paint, or textiles. Reductive methods are achieved through the removal of material, usually in the form of engraving or punch work. Many of these could have been done by the armourer in his workshop, but some pieces were enhanced by specialist decorators, either as a stage in overall construction or to put a new finish on an already-existing piece of armour.267
Applied borders could be very costly. The product of goldsmiths, they are in many instances highly intricate, with fretwork and moulding similar to the tracery found in medieval stained glass windows. Alternatively, relatively simple copper-alloy bands with some manner of decoration could be applied, as with the sallet IV.424 which has a band that is swaged and punched with a complex pattern, or the basinet IV.470 which has an applied border which has been engraved.268
Although these bands could simply be riveted on, as is the case for the two objects above, they could also be applied into a recessed border which required more time, planning, and coordination between armourer and decorator. This recessed border, exposed on AL.23 107 as it has lost its applied decoration, causes the band to lay flush, or closer to flush, with the main surface of the plate.269 Thus, it must be decided upon beforehand and cannot be added at the last moment, at least not without great difficulty.
More common are those methods which are reductive. Most of this type of decoration is fairly simple, being rather linear or repetitive in nature, but it also includes
267
Pfaffenbichler, Armourers, pp. 37-45. 268
See Figures 47 and 48. 269
very intricate engraving and etching, pierced fretwork, and sculpted carving. Engraving and etching often have similar results though they are carried out in very different ways. For engraving a specialised tool called a graver, a tiny shaped chisel, cuts material away from the surface. Engraving is often used to define borders or accentuate features, and in this capacity it is fairly simple. More advanced engraving becomes an art in its own right, and is limited only by the skill of the engraver and the space allowed by the plate.
Etching is achieved not with a tool but with acid which eats away at the surface, and is a technique which ‘first appeared on late-fifteenth-century armour...appearing in print for the first time in Von Stahel und Eysen’.270 In order to create the desired pattern, and prevent the whole piece from dissolving, the plate is coated with a resist such as wax which is scored with a stylus, causing the acid to only affect that part which has been exposed.271 Vinegar was probably the most popular etchant used; Von Stahel und Eysen recommends mixing lime charcoal, vitriol, sal ammoniac, and vinegar as an etchant and using ‘red lead tempered with linseed oil’ as a resist.272
Etching can be very intricate but has its drawbacks compared to engraving. The ends of lines generally have a blunt termination rather than a tapering point and
differences in depth are not possible. Henry VIII’s tonlet armour shows the range of quality possible with etching, from very fine to extremely crude, including mistakes. A close examination of the lines shows the sweep at the end of the stylus strokes which is one of the indicators of this type of decoration.273
Punch work is a very simple way to decorate, and like engraving is frequently seen as an embellishment to a border, or to demarcate the line between sections such as the waist of a backplate. Files are used to incise decoration into the plates, especially on
270
Eamon, Science and the Secrets of Nature, p. 119. 271
Untracht, Jewellery, pp. 321-23. 272
Hermann W. Williams, ‘Von Stahel und Eysen’, pp. 71-72. 273
edges, and to create a roped effect on rolls. Much of this decoration is basic notching, but it can be used in conjunction with piercing to create very intricate fretwork and decorative finials. In some cases the notches may have been made with a chisel, but teeth marks within the notch are an indicator that a file was used.
Some of the most fantastic, and fantastical, decoration found on armour was achieved through embossing. Although embossing is in fact a hammer work technique, and is certainly used for basic shaping such as making the steps of sallet visors, it finds its fullest development as a decorative technique, adding not to the defensive quality of the armour but to its aesthetic value. Embossing flourished at the end of the era when armour was worn, finding only limited use in the fifteenth century. Besides the
aforementioned practical uses of embossing, it could also be used to raise up decorative roping, distinct from flutes, and bosses over wrist and ankle bones.