Breastplate

These plates of armor would have been worn over a chain mail shirt or other body armor, and would have been fastened together with leather straps attached to the metal buckles. The chest and back plates each have two additional buckles at the top for straps to go over the shoulders. All the plates were originally lined with velvet, although only a few scraps of fabric still remain attached to the rivets on the inside of the plates. This type of armor is called chahar aineh, meaning "four mirrors" in Persian. Its origin lies in shiny metal disks worn by the Mongols on the chest and back over their armor, both for additional protection and to ward off evil spirits (which were believed to be repelled by mirrors). Persian armor was influenced by Mongol traditions following the Mongol invasion of Iran in the 13th century, and the synthesis of styles which developed in Iran then spread to India. Notes from the Glory and Prosperity exhibition, Feb - June 2002.