通过费城艺术博物馆非凡的**藏品，这本书将武器和盔甲视为艺术——从战争到军事演习，从狩猎到追求荣耀

费城艺术博物馆收藏的武器和盔甲是世界上同类藏品中最精良的。这本插图丰富的书籍展示了来自该博物馆的近100件杰作，包括完整的盔甲和盔甲组成部分、剑、火器和弩，杖型武器，马具和相关配件。这些物品大部分来自欧洲王公贵族的武器装备，代表着军械士艺术的缩影，许多物品在这里首次以彩色出版。

本书阐述了武器和盔甲——结合了艺术、时尚、设计、政治和技术——可以被视为人类创造力的独特表达方式。

Through the exceptional permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this book looks at arms and armor as art—

from warfare to war games, from hunting to the pursuit of glory

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s holdings of arms and armor are among the finest of their kind in the world. Presenting nearly 100 masterpieces from the collection, this lavishly illustrated volume includes complete armors and armor elements, swords, firearms and crossbows, staff weapons, horse equipment, and related accessories. Drawn for the most part from the princely armories of Europe, these objects represent the epitome of the armorer’s art, and many are published here in color for the first time. The engaging text by Dirk H. Breiding summarizes the latest scholarship and discusses how the museum’s collection—

the core of which consists of a 1977 bequest by the distinguished connoisseur and scholar Carl Otto Kretzschmar von Kienbusch (1884–1976)—has evolved over the years.

This volume reveals how arms and armor—

uniting art, fashion, design, politics, and technology—

can be seen as unique expressions of human creativity.