Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/273

 glory, a wealth of thick gold plating and etching of which we illustrate parts (Figs. 1022 and 1028). Indeed, we have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be one of the grandest suits of armour extant. There is surely no improbability in the idea of a French Grand Master of Artillery having a suit made by French armourers who, though now unknown, produced work which conforms neither to German nor to Italian fashion. And if it is reasonable to consider the Genouilhac suit as the product of France, then the double great suit in the Tower must be held to come from the same source.

Showing the design of the etching

The workmanship of this great double suit is of the most perfect finish throughout, and the decoration simple and satisfying in its balance of ornament. Each plate is finely formed and very characteristic of the fashion of the period, about 1530-40. The iron used is hard, close, and black in texture. All the borders, slightly recessed, are thinly etched with conventional duplicated scrollwork, gilt, which, in places, introduces the pomegranate and rose. The rivets connecting plate to plate are steel-headed and the border-rivets securing the lining have hemispherical heads cased in latten. We shall refer again to the suit at the end of the chapter (post, page 239).

Our first illustration (Fig. 1023) shows part of the Henry VIII double suit mounted, which the author remembers being labelled as having belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, a tradition we have already mentioned. Upon this armour is a simply-fashioned close helmet with a low but very finely moulded skull-piece; the visor is interchangeable with others,