A rare French Breast-plate, probably for an Officer of the G...

Estimate

£500 - £700

A rare French Breast-plate, probably for an Officer of the Gendarmerie de France or Cuirassiers de la Maison du Roi, circa 1685/1700, with low medial ridge coming to a residual point, decorated in the centre with a full-length band of multiple spaced incised lines, with further incised pairs of double linear bands radiating over the sides and bordering both the base and the arm-openings, an single incised double band about the neck, and the borders studded with brass lining rivets (oxidised, light pitting), together with a 19th century mail fragment, 48cm long

Note: Characteristic of the later harquebusier type of breast-plate, the incised linear pattern on this example also compares closely with that of a cuirass of very similar form attributed to Victor-Marie, Marquis de Coeuvres et duc d’ Estrées (1660-1737), later Marshal of France from 1703 until his death (ref: Musée de l’Armée, Paris)