Ian Eaves
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Ian Donald Dietrich Eaves, , is a British researcher and consultant on arms and armour. He served as the Keeper of Armour at the Royal Armouries for eighteen years, from 1978 to 1996. Also starting in 1978, and continuing until 1983, he served as the editor of the ''Journal of the Arms & Armour Society''; he was appointed the society's president in 1995, and currently serves as a vice-president emeritus. He has written and translated several articles for journals, including the society's. As of 2019, Eaves works as a consultant on arms and armour, and has been commissioned to create several catalogues of large collections. In 2002 he published ''Catalogue of European Armour at the
Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
'', and in 2016 he coauthored the long-awaited ''Arms & Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen'', a 528-page work which Eaves had been working on for more than a decade. He has also coauthored a volume of an illustrated miniature series, ''The Art of the Gun: European Firearms Masterpieces from the 17th to the 19th Centuries''. Eaves's work as a consultant has also included duties for auction houses, including
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
and Thomas Del Mar Limited. Eaves has also collected armour himself; one of his former pieces is now owned by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
.


Career

Eaves was interested in arms and armour from a young age, writing his first school project on the subject at the age of ten. In 1978 the Royal Armouries, located in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
, appointed him Keeper of Armour; he held the position for eighteen years. While there he helped secure the long-term loan of the Barendyne helmet, which Eaves later termed "the greatest piece I have been instrumental in acquiring in my period at the Armouries". Also in 1978 Eaves was made honorary editor of the ''Journal of the Arms & Armour Society'', serving in that role until 1983. Eaves has also collected pieces of armour himself; one piece, an Italian defense from a left arm, dating to around 1510–1520, is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1981 Eaves was awarded the Frances E. Markoe Fellowship in Memory of Stephen A. Caldwell and Frances C. F. Caldwell by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in
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. The scholarship enabled him to research the museum's collection of European armour, specifically the use and development of the
brigandine A brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a garment typically made of heavy cloth, canvas, or leather, lined internally with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric, sometimes with a second layer of fabric on th ...
. Eaves's time at the museum coincided with the ninth triennial congress of the International Association of Museums of Arms and Military History, held across September and October. The congress included a medieval banquet planned and funded by
Ronald S. Lauder Ronald (Ron) Steven Lauder (born February 26, 1944) is an American businessman, billionaire, philanthropist, art collector, and political activist. He is the president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007. He and his brother, Leonard Lauder, ...
, and held in the hall housing the museum's arms and armour collection. The ''
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'' covered the event. "Many of the guests last night cast covetous eyes at the museum's collection, which is among the best in the world", the ''Times'' wrote, quoting "a smiling Ian D.D. Eaves, curator of The Armories at Her Majesty's Tower of London" as saying There's a number of things I'd like to make off with if I could be sure I would be undetected. The article went on to note that Eaves would be continuing at the Metropolitan Museum for an additional two months, in order to undertake "a detailed examination" of some of the museum's British items. The following year, in 1982, Eaves became a consultant curator for the Higgins Armory Museum in
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
. Among other duties during this time, he lectured on the armours of King
Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. In 1996 Eaves left the Royal Armouries and became a consultant on arms and armour, work he still does as of 2019. The work includes research, along with cataloging and editing, for museums and institutions across Europe and North America. Institutions Eaves has worked for include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
, the
Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
of the
University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, and the
Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Armourers' Guild was established in 1322; it received a royal charter in 1453. Other companies, including the Armour Repairers, merged ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Eaves has also provided consulting services for auction houses. He worked at
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
until 2005, when Thomas Del Mar, the head of the company's arms and armour business, left to form Thomas Del Mar Limited, and took Eaves and Franciska Ekman with him. The new company continued to work on a contractual basis with Sotheby's, "effectively allow ngSotheby's to buy in the expertise for their sales programme as and when they require it," as one trade publication put it, "while allowing the specialists to develop their own businesses and client services."


Awards

In 1983 Eaves was awarded the Research Medal of the Arms & Armour Society, for services to the study of arms and armour. The following year, on 12 January 1984, he was elected a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...
. Since 1995, Eaves has served as the honorary president of the Arms & Armour Society. As part of the
2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
, announced on 31 December 2016, Eaves was appointed a Member of the
Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...
, " r services to the Royal Collection."


Publications

Eaves has been commissioned to create catalogues for multiple large collections of arms and armour, including the
Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
and the Fitzwilliam collection. He has also published a number of scholarly articles and books, and is a coauthor of a volume from a five-volume miniature book series, ''The Art of the Gun''.


Royal Collection

In 2000, Eaves was approached to continue the work of producing a comprehensive catalogue of armour held in the Royal Collection. The project was intended to fill a gap in scholarship and supersede the somewhat cursory efforts of Guy Laking that had been published in 1904. The Laking work had included only the works he considered to be highlights of the collection, despite his assertion that "each item ... can stand the most severe scrutiny", and at 283 pages it was just over half the length of Eaves's later catalogue. Efforts at a successor work to Laking's catalogue had begun in the 1980s as part of a wider cataloguing collaboration between Claude Blair, the keeper of metalwork at the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, who acted as general editor, and two senior figures at the Royal Armouries, A. V. B. Norman (armour, edged weapons) and Howard Blackmore (firearms). Although a draft was prepared in eight years, "an amazing achievement" in the words of
Geoffrey de Bellaigue Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue (12 March 1931 – 4 January 2013) was Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Art from 1972 to 1996. His was the first full-time appointment to the office, and he did much to professionalise the Royal Collection department af ...
,
Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Art The office of Surveyor of the King's/Queen's Works of Art in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of works of art own ...
from 1972 to 1996, the deaths of Norman in 1998 and Blackmore in 1999 threatened completion of the project. In 2000 Eaves, then Keeper of Armour at the Royal Armouries, was asked to take on the task, both updating and extending Norman's work and also adding completely new entries. Tobias Capwell, a curator at the
Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along w ...
, said in his review of the resulting book - ''Arms & Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen'' (2016) - that


Fitzwilliam collection

Eaves's 2002 work ''Catalogue of European Armour at the Fitzwilliam Museum'' was the result of a private commission, through a grant by the museum. The work, approaching a collection largely comprising sixteenth-century German and North Italian field armour, categorised the pieces by whole armours, half armours, helmets, parts armour, and horse armour. Described as an "excellent" if rather expensive book with " ery rivet, hinge, plate, crack, pitting, internal washer, decoration, internal lining, lames, etc. ... carefully noted to provide an accurate assessment of the piece", it was nonetheless found to contain flaws when reviewed by David M. Oster. Eaves, according to Oster, was himself dissatisfied with some elements of the book's structure, which were imposed upon him by the Fitzwilliam Museum. Oster also noted that Eaves had no hand in the selection of illustrations or writing their associated captions, some of which contain errors.


''The Art of the Gun''

In 2003 Eaves coauthored the second volume of a five-volume miniature book series, ''The Art of the Gun''. The heavily illustrated series displayed highlights of the collection of Robert M. Lee, a philanthropist and collector, whose interest in cars led to two best in shows at the
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. The books covered guns from the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
through the twenty-first century; the volume coauthored by Eaves, ''European Firearms Masterpieces from the 17th to the 19th Centuries'', displayed highly decorated examples from the era. As described by the publisher, it served as a "celebrat on ofthe art, craftsmanship, romance and performance of fine firearms, throughout the ages."


Papers

Eaves has written a number of scholarly articles, many of which were published in the Journal of the Arms & Armour Society; Eaves also translated a work by the German scholar
Ortwin Gamber Ortwin Gamber (born 21 March 1925) is an Austrian art historian who served as director of the weapons collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum from 1976 to 1986. He had previously volunteered and following his 1950 graduation, worked at the mus ...
for the journal. Eaves has also written for other journals, including on the tournament armours worn by King Henry VIII of England. Papers written or translated by Eaves include: * * * * * *


Books

* *


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaves, Ian Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Living people Members of the Royal Victorian Order Year of birth missing (living people)