Lorenz Helmschmid German, late 15th-early 16th century Partial Jousting Harness (Stechzeug), Augsburg, 1494 steel Philadelphia Museum of Art German Left Arm for a Jousting Harness (Stechzeug), late 15th century steel The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1929. (29.156.67)

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This type of jousting armor was worn in contests in which opponents on horseback attempted to unseat each other using blunt lances. An illustration of such a joust is displayed in Joust with Blunt Lances, from The Housebook. Here we see the helmet and the breast and back plates of a harness, including the curved lance rest. This particularly fine harness is unusually well documented. It was made by the official court armorer, to be worn in tournaments in 1494 celebrating the wedding of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan. The gauntlet for the left arm was part of a different set of jousting armor.

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