ABSTRACT
A jack of plate is a type of late sixteenth-century British body armour, of which there are few extant examples. Outwardly fashionable in shape, it is made of linen and decoratively tufted, concealing an inner layer of overlapping metal plates designed to protect the wearer from thrust, shot, or blow. Two jacks were recently acquired at auction, one by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, and a second by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (JYF), Virginia. Both jacks came to the V&A for conservation work, providing a unique opportunity to analyse, document, and conserve the two jacks side by side. This case study details the scientific methods of analysis used with particular focus on the identification, replication, and reduction of a vivid yellow corrosion on the JYF jack, believed to have been the result of a past restoration treatment involving oxalic acid. The case study also focuses on the context of the technical study and conservation of the jacks, which involved knowledge exchange between early career conservators, senior conservators, and conservation scientists in the context of the V&A’s bustling textile conservation studio, resulting in a deeper understanding of both jacks and the outcome of the final conservation treatments.
