Chris Dobson

Master Armourer

Here is a brief description of the sort of restoration work that is Chris carries out in his studio. In order to be able to convincingly restore missing and damaged elements of an armour, you first have to know what they should look like: here Chris's extensive research work is invaluable, both the experience of handling armours from the finest collections, and his reference library, containing hundreds of books and many thousands of images. This is complemented by additional research of period art and documents, for graphic representations of armours as they were worn, and for descriptions of their appearance and clues to how they were made. The ability to actually create new elements and accurately re-shape existing ones is invaluable. Finally, Chris has to be able to work convincingly in the style of any Master Armourer.

Left: Chris Dobson re-fitting the tassets on the fauld of the armour of Friedrich the Victorious, Count Palatine, by Tommaso and Antonio Missaglia, and Pier Innocenzo da Faerno (Vienna, Rüstkammer, A2). Here Chris is ably assisted by Viennese gilder, Martin Klobassa!

Where possible, the restoration techniques Chris uses are reversible, but often this is not possible, so decisions have to be taken on how to best preserve the integrity of the piece in the course of the restoration. The aim is to physically stabilize and preserve the piece for posterity, whilst creating a pleasing aethsthetic restoration for display, which must be sympathetic to the original character of the piece.

Right: Chris Dobson cleaning the breastplate of the garniture of Willhelm, Reichsfreiherr von Roggendorf, by Kolman Helmschmidt (Vienna, Rüstkammer, A374), prior to rebuilding the fauld and tassets.