Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/230

 We next illustrate that desirable chanfron which came from the collection of the Baron de Cosson, and is now in that of Sir Edward Barry. It is ribbed in the accepted Gothic manner, and has the plume holder attached immediately behind the large rondel that decorates the forehead (Fig. 997). In the collection of Mr. Alfred W. Cox of Glendoick, Perthshire, is a fine and large chanfron of unusual thickness and strength. The main portion of it is of one plate, very broadly grooved, with additional plates added to the sides towards the base, and with the nasal guard added also. The ear-plates are small, as is the rondel in front. From the collector's point of view it is a most desirable specimen; the metal, thanks to its never having suffered from injudicious over-cleaning, has a splendid surface. Yet such are the accidents of fate, that this most splendid example of late XVth century armour was for years in the London market before a purchaser could be found for it (Fig. 998). We could enumerate other such defences; but such mere repetition would become wearisome.

The war horse of the end of the XVth century presented a completely armoured appearance, no part of it being left unprotected; but though we have certain contemporary evidence of the continual use of the charger's full panoply in warfare we cannot help thinking that it was in large measure relegated to occasions of display. Now, too, influenced by the introduction of the solid Maximilian style, the graceful arrangement of channelling and the general flowing lines of the so-called "Gothic" make way for the fashion of parallel grooving and of straight blunt lines. There was, however, a short transitional period in which the chanfron retained some of the XVth century feeling in respect of form, despite the addition of the cabled borders of the Maximilian order. In the Tower, at Windsor Castle, and at Hampton Court, are many chanfrons of this intermediate style. They are generally poor in workmanship, and appear to have been turned out in large numbers for some particular occasion, almost suggesting that they were made from moulds or patterns termed "dobbles," upon which sheets of iron, afterwards hardened, were hammered; for though not all alike in point of detail, they seem all to have been founded on the same or perhaps two or three models. Approximately they date from the closing years of the XVth century to the first quarter of the next century. We illustrate an example which has been transferred to the Windsor Armoury from the Tower of London (Fig. 999). Note how roughly fashioned are the ear-guards and what factitious grandeur the exaggerated rondel on the forehead lends to this defence. As an example of horse armour to which an actual ownership