#chamfron

This type of armor is known as a shaffron (or chamfron) and it was supposed to cover a horse's face from its forehead down to its muzzle.

The armor was created in Tibet or Mongolia about 400-600 years ago; it was made by grafting small iron plates, gold and silver damascened elements, and copper onto a leather/cotton base.

As the Metropolitan Museum of Art describes:

Tibetan shaffrons are relatively rare. This shaffron is by far the most elaborately decorated of any known example. The quality and execution of its lavish gold and silver damascening rank among the best examples of Tibetan decorated ironwork of this kind, suggesting that it was made for a very high ranking general, if not a king.

A few other shaffrons from the same culture/period are also known to exist:

Above: a similar shaffron from Tibet or Mongolia, c.1400-1650 CE, without the elaborate gold and silver decoration

Above: a frontal plate from a Tibetan shaffron, c.1500-1700 CE

Above: another shaffron from Tibet or Mongolia, c.1500-1650 CE

Sources & More Info:

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense)

Met Publications: Warriors of the Himalayas: the Arms and Armor of Tibet

Arms and Armour: History, Conservation, and Analysis: The Remains of a Rare Tibetan Shaffron

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Another Shaffron from Tibet or Mongolia

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Frontal Plate of a Tibetan Shaffron