LOT 0313

Byzantine Iron Lamellar Armour Group

CIRCA 12TH-13TH CENTURY A.D.

1 1/2 - 4 3/4 in. (1.43 kg total, 4-12 cm).

A Byzantine or Eastern European armour group comprising 138 plates from a klivanion in forty different shapes; originally the plates would have been interlaced and attached to an undergarment to form a compact cuirass. [138, No Reserve]

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11929-209662.

Cf. Thordeman, B., Armour from the battle of Wisby, 1361, Malmo, 1939 (London, 2001), pp.246-247; Dawson, T., One Thousand Years of lamellar construction in the Roman World, Armidale, 2003; D’Amato, R., Pflaum, V., ‘Two suites of lamellar armour from Kranj (Carnium), Slovenia, in the light of archaeological analogies, written sources and contemporary iconography’, in Acta Militaria Mediaevalia XV, Kraków–Sanok–Wrocław 2019, s. 7-50.

The lamellar protection was particularly effective when used by mounted troops as it provided not just protection but enabled free movement due to its loose construction. A similar type of armour was already used by the Assyrians in the 9th century B.C. Its use increased in the west during the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. As a result of changes in warfare techniques, where the archer’s role in the initial stages of the battle was of utmost importance, the use of lamellar armour was widespread amongst the Roman army and Germanic peoples.
There are various ways in which the present suite of plates could have been assembled, although it was likely a short (thigh-length) form of lamellar armour.