Shirt of Mail and Plate of Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Qaitbay (ca. 1416/18–1496), 18th Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt

Sultan Qaitbay (1416/18–1496) was one of the longest reigning Mamluk rulers of Egypt and a great patron of architecture. He is perhaps best remembered for building and renovating many mosques, shrines, citadels, and other monuments that still stand today in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Israel. This armor, one of only four Mamluk examples known to survive, is unique for the elaborate gold-damascened ornamentation on the eighty-seven steel plates that protect its most vulnerable areas. In addition to panels enclosing Qaitbay’s name and titles, the plates are adorned with intricate scrolling foliage, running vines, and circular medallions enclosing six-pointed stars. The armor appears to have been seized by the Ottoman Turks following their conquest of Egypt in 1517, over twenty years after Qaitbay’s death, and was long kept as a trophy of war in the Ottoman arsenal in Istanbul.