Fig. 32.—Cuirass and Tassets, at Dresden.
There is a chastely enriched harness in the Kriegswaffen-Saal at Dresden attributed to Wilhelm von Worms. A drawing is given in [Fig. 32] of the cuirass and tassets. On the left side of the breastplate is engraved a figure of a knight kneeling before the crucified Christ on the cross. The top of the breastplate is tastefully ornamented with a shield, with foliations on either side. This example is specially valuable, as it bears the date of make—1539.
An example in black and white may be seen at Berlin, the bright spaces being engraved. The breastplate is adorned with an engraved figure of Christ on the cross, and the gorget bears the legend: SOLVS SPES MEA CHRISTVS. A rondelle protects the right armpit. The left pauldron is a restoration. The suit dates about 1570.
There is a remarkable harness at Berlin, dating from about the middle of the sixteenth century. The cuirass, taces, and tassets are banded with an ornamentation of chevrons, which are bright and black alternately. Each row is defined with lines of brass, probably originally gilded. The cuisses are bright on the upper portions, which are enriched alternately with piping and small overlapping plates like shillings; the lower portions are black, and so also are the jambs. The sollerets are small and “bear-paw,” the extremities adorned with alternate bright and black flutings; the pauldrons are treated in the same manner. The rerebraces are ornamented with thick, circular coils to resemble puffs; there are no coudières, but the joint is rendered mobile by eleven narrow lames. There is a boy’s harness of similar make at Vienna, by Hans Seusenhofer, dating about 1511. This suit is obviously a copy of the civil dress of the time.
SUIT AT ALNWICK CASTLE.
This is a very chaste and elegant Italian suit ([Fig. 33]), dating from the last quarter of the sixteenth century. It is ornamented in the banded Italian style; the ground of repoussé work, with its rich minute foliations in low relief, is gilded, while the rest of the steel remains bright. The general style of the ornamentation is alternate chevrons of bright steel and minute repoussé work. The decorative work on the pauldrons and genouillières is, however, much bolder in character than on the rest of the armour. A very similar style of ornamentation may be seen on a tilting suit given in Skelton, vol. i., Plate VIII., and dated by him 1543. The Alnwick harness is freely studded with brass-headed rivets which have been gilded.
The helmet is in four pieces, and highly characteristic of the Italian school of the period.
The gorget is comparatively modern, but conveys the idea that it was copied from the original piece owing to dilapidation, and but for the ornamentation it would pass even with close observers when the suit is set up.
