1The collection of arms and armor at the Wallace Collection is widely recognized as being one of the largest and most important in the world. Consisting of around 2,500 objects, it represents both European and Oriental arms and armor. The European part of the collection was acquired primarily by Sir Richard Wallace, mainly in 1871, from the collections of Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick--founding father of the serious study of arms and armor--and that of the comte de Nieuwerkerke, Director of the Louvre under the Emperor Napoleon III.