Smolensk State Reserve Museum: A Kalmyk ‘Framed’ Helmet Reviewed

Introduction. The article deals with an iron helmet stored at Smolensk State Reserve Museum (inv. no. OР-375) that has never been subject to any academic research. The goal. The paper aims to introduce the item into scientific circulation, describe its construction and design, clarify some dating and attribution properties. Results. The efforts to establish when and how the helmet had been obtained by the museum came to nothing but it can still be dated and attributed on the basis of a typological analysis. The headpiece clusters with a large group of riveted helmets characterized by a four-piece crown and a specific ‘frame’ consisting of narrow faceted overlays with a smooth edge and one (two) narrow hoops. Helmets of this type are equipped with a cylindrical (less often conical) pommel (top) with a plume tube. Another frequent design element of such helmets is a ‘box-shaped’ visor. Such headpieces come from Central Asia, South Siberia, and the Volga Region and are dated back to the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. The helmet from Smolensk State Reserve Museum is distinguished by multiple ornamental patterns on the crown, as well as the shape of the two-part top piece. It is very likely that the armorer to have authored this element of the helmet may have been inspired by images of Buddhist stupas inherent to the Kadampa tradition. The crown and other elements of the helmet bear a jagged ornament that creates rhombic and triangular patterns, as well as ones in the form of three-toed bird claws. Conclusions. The construction and design structures of the examined headpiece — including the Buddhist symbols on the pommel — suggest that the helmet was forged by armorers of Dzungaria or Volga Kalmykia for an Oirat Buddhist warrior between the 1610s and 1750s (most likely in the second half of this period). The available visual materials attest to that such helmets were long used in weaponry of nomads across the Great Steppe. So, in particular, one can see them on images of Bashkir warriors dated to the 1800s–1820s. 

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