Cui Ture

摘要

Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, William Randolph Hearst bought this Milanese suit of parade armor for $15,000 and displayed it in his New York apartment. Standing at just over 5 feet tall, it was probably made for a young man of small stature but great prominence. The dense ornament is carved, punched, and delicately damascened-a painstaking craft-in silver and gold. This was one of six suits of armor Hearst owned, part of the tycoon's vast collection of treasures that included swords, guns, silver and gold, tapestries, enamels, and paintings. Most were sold when his fortunes reversed in the 1930s. For the first time since then, 150 items from Hearst's holdings are reunited in "Hearst the Collector," an exhibition currently at LACMA in Los Angeles, through Feb.