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Chris Dobson

Master Armourer

A North Italian sallet, circa 1480 (1993).

Sallets were one of the commonest helmets in use in Europe in the 15th Century, but their origins go back into the 14th Century. This commission was for a type of sallet that will look strange to modern eyes, because it has a hinged nasal bar. Only two complete examples survives to the present day, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the National Museum, Athens. There are other examples in various collections (such as the Wallace Collection) which have lost their nasals: the former presence of the nasal is always betrayed by the presence of three rivet holes arranged in a triangle over the centre of the brow. Sallets were also fitted with laminated 'lobster' tails, and even laminated cheek pieces.

This type of sallet was certainly in use in Tuscany in the 1430's, because they appear in the two panels of 'The Rout of the Tower at San Romano, by Paolo Uccello (c.1438), and they were still in use much later in the Century, in Venice, where they appear in the Sant'Orsola Cycle by Vittore Carpaccio (panels dated 1490-93).

Click on the thumbnails below to see full-size photos.

A Visored North Italian Sallet, circa 1460-70 (1992).

This sallet was based on the two Churburg sallets, of which one is now in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds.

Venetian Sallets, North Italian, circa 1435-40 (sallet 1993, minature copy 1995).

Two Italian sallets from the first half of the 15th Century. The miniature was a lot of fun to make: every detail was reproduced from the full-size copy, right down to the buckle, as you can see from the photo on the right.