Fig. 13.
Fig. 14.
Pavoise. Afli.
Violet-le-duc.
Fig. 15.
Back of Fig. 14.
The term pavoise is sometimes given to the large decorative shields (of various shapes) which were made in considerable numbers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in Italy; but there is no doubt that the term, in strictness, should be confined to this special defence of the foot-soldier.
Fig. 16.—Fifteenth Century.
A shield with a sharp arris or ridge and a round base is said to have been the last form to be used in actual war (Fig. 16), and is interesting as the prototype of the ridged Renaissance shield, which became of such decorative value, especially when modelled in relief, because of the play of light and shade which it afforded (Fig. 16A. See also Figs. 20 and 21).
Fig. 16a.—Ridged Shield. Fifteenth Century. Martin Schongauer.
It will, of course, be understood that the various shapes of shields, as they were gradually evolved one from the other, did not in representation supersede their predecessors altogether, however more or less completely they may have done so as actual defence, and a considerable amount of overlapping took place in this as in other heraldic fashions.