Armpiece or vambrace, steel armour with gold overlay decoration, panel for lower arm joined with two smaller sections at the wrist, chevron stripes with pious Arabic inscriptions in square cartouche, Iran, c.1700-1800.

Vambrace or arm defence for the left arm. Watered steel with a chiseled diamond pattern. A central diamond cartouche is decorated with calligraphy in gold kuftkari, and surrounded by concentric bands of alternating sliver and gold kuftkari. Two wrist plates are attached by riveted mail. The mitten is missing

Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A).

970-1884