Armor15th-16th century

Not on view

Title: Armor
Place Made: Turkey
Date Made: 15th-16th century
Medium: Steel, forged
Dimensions: a: 5 x 23 in. (12.7 x 58.42 cm); b: 15 x 17 3/4 in. (38.1 x 45.08 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.584a-b
Classification: Arms and Armor
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Decorated with a radiating sun, this circular breast plate once formed part of a set of body armor that would have included a shirt of mail with molded and rectangular plates and this circular element suspended across the chest of an Ottoman warrior, with a similar disk on the back, to protect his body from blows in battle. This type of armor was widely used in the Islamic world until the spread of firearms in warfare diminished its effectiveness. The small circle near the center of the disk, filled with a crescent and three lines, is an Ottoman arsenal mark, indicating where the armor was once stored.
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.

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