The easiest way to protect iron armor from corrosion was to gild it. And beautiful, and rust does not take. Well, you could clean them from the inside! Reitar armor from the Thirty Years War. (Dresden Armory)
As you know, the first all-metal knightly armor appeared around 1410. Before that, they had a chain mail aventail, so they cannot be considered completely solid-forged. There were no decorations on them, or rather, I must say so - the polishing of the metal was their only decoration. However, even then there were originals, such as a certain knight John de Fiarles, who in 1410 gave the Burgundian armourers £ 1,727 for armor, a sword and a dagger decorated with pearls, and even diamonds, that is, he ordered a completely unheard-of time thing. The Burgundians were probably surprised. But very soon the appearance of simple polished iron ceased to meet the aesthetic tastes of Western European chivalry. The situation was repeated during the "chain mail era", when all the figures acquired a dark metallic color and it became completely impossible to distinguish them.
Armor in the Pisa style, that is, made in the city of Pisa. Northern Italy, 1580. Their decoration is done by means of etching. The background is selected, so a flat image is left on the surface. (Dresden Armory)
Now the knights have turned into statues of polished metal, and the problem with their identification arose again, especially since chivalry at this time began to abandon shields, and already in the 16th century it was abandoned almost completely.
German Reitar armor 1620 Works by master Christian Müller, Dresden. (Dresden Armory)
In addition to armor, or rather, next to them in the Dresden Armory, many different weapons are exhibited. Accordingly, next to the Reitar armor, the swords of these riders are also exhibited, but the main thing is the pistols that belonged to them, which can rightfully be considered the masterpieces of arms business. Usually these are pistol headsets of two wheeled pistols. They were worn in holsters near the saddle with handles forward, so as not to sit on them accidentally when landing in the saddle. But it is clear that there were always people who wanted to arm themselves "to the fullest." And so they wore two more pistols each behind the cuffs of their boots and one or two more in their belts. So six shots at the enemy were guaranteed to such a rider, if, of course, the castle did not refuse. Before you is a hammered, entirely gilded burgonet helmet, accompanied by a pair of similarly decorated pistols with wheel locks and a powder flask. The pistols are marked with the letters KT. Place of manufacture Augsburg, until 1589 (Dresden Armory)
Close-up of the same helmet. Augsburg, until 1589 (Dresden Armory)
Well, this is a saddle from a headset that included this helmet, pistols and a powder flask. So it seemed a little of all this! The saddle was also designed in that technique !!!
It was possible to again cover the armor with heraldic robes and in some cases the knights did just that, but the technology of dyeing iron in different colors also became very popular. The most common staining method is dark blue bluing. It was made on hot charcoal, and armourers, especially Italian ones, did it so skillfully that they learned not only to achieve uniform coloring of large items, but also to obtain any shades. The armor painted in purple and also in red (sanguine) was highly appreciated. Milanese had a gray color, well, and the traditional black bluing, which was obtained by burning parts of armor in hot ash, was used everywhere and very often. Finally, bluing brown came into fashion in Milan in the 1530s. That is, the armor remained smooth, but at the same time it had already become colored. It should be added that the gilding and silvering of armor were not forgotten.
Armor was made not only for adults, but also for children, so that they learned to wear them from early childhood. These blued armors are for children! Work of the master Peter von Speyer, Dresden, 1590 (Dresden Armory)
But this is a pikiner's helmet "pot" (pot) or a box and a shield. Both items are decorated with engraving and gilding. Nearby are heavy Walloon swords. Augsburg, 1590 (Dresden Armory)
Morion and a shield, moreover, a shield in the form of an inverted drop. Iron chasing. Second half of the 16th century. (Dresden Armory)
Burgock and shield. Decorated with blackening and gilding. Augsburg, 1600 (Dresden Armory) It is clear that no one went into battle in such helmets and with such shields. All this is the ceremonial equipment of the court guard of some duke or elector, designed to hit his guests and potential allies and opponents.
Then, in Italy, in the middle of the 15th century, engraving began to be used to decorate armor and shields, and from the 1580s it was combined with gilding. The easiest method was chemical gold amalgam. The gold was dissolved in mercury and the product was covered with this mixture, after which it was put into the oven to heat it. At the same time, mercury evaporated, and gold was tightly combined with iron. Then the surface of the product could only be polished and the armor acquired an exceptionally rich look. But this technique cannot be called perfect. The method was dangerous for the master himself, since there was always a danger of inhaling mercury vapor. On the other hand, such gilding was very durable, although it required a lot of gold.
An extremely magnificent helmet - a hammered burgundy with black burnishing and overlaid chased details made of gilded copper in an antique style. Augsburg, 1584-1588 (Dresden Armory)
Arme helmet, armored saddle and shield. Presumably Augsburg or Nuremberg, second half of the 16th century. (Dresden Armory)
By the end of the 15th century, armor plates and shields began to be decorated with edging, which was made by the method of etching. There was a method of high etching and deep etching, which differed in whether the image on the surface was convex, and the background was in-depth, or vice versa. In the first case, a very flat relief was obtained, while in the second, the image in its appearance approached the technique of engraving on copper. That is, a piece of armor was coated with a durable varnish or wax. A drawing was applied on it with an engraving needle and filled with acid, sometimes repeating this operation two or three times. Then the drawing was trimmed with incisors. Etching was combined with blackening and gilding. When blackening, black and caustic mineral oils were rubbed into the resulting depressions, and then the part was heated. The oil evaporated, and the mobile combined with the base metal. When etching with gilding, usually flat recesses of a sufficiently large area were gilded.
Combat armor by Jacob Göring. Dresden, 1640 (Dresden Armory)
Another set of so-called three-quarter (they were also called field) armor, which belonged to the Saxon Elector Johann Georg II, by the master Christian Müller, Dresden, 1650 (Dresden Armory)
Burnished three-quarter armor by master Christian Müller, Dresden, 1620 (Dresden Armory).
The etching of the depressions during etching was usually carried out with a mixture of acetic and nitric acid and alcohol. Of course, the masters kept the recipes for these mixtures in strict confidence. However, the main thing in this technology was the experience of the master. It was necessary to capture the moment when it was necessary to drain the acid so that it did not corrode the steel too deeply or so that the drawing did not come out indistinct.
Over time, craftsmen learned to combine various techniques. They used chasing, etching, carving, gilding and silvering, niello and colored metal. The result of these delights was, for example, such French ceremonial armor, made before 1588. Here is a ceremonial set with an additional breastplate for a cuirass. (Dresden Armory)
Ceremonial set by master Elysius Libarts, Antwerp, 1563-1565 Black bluing, chasing, gilding. (Dresden Armory)
Morion helmet for this armor, in case the wearer would like to remove their fully enclosed armé helmet.
And the saddle, without which, according to the views of that century, the set could not be considered complete and perfect.
