Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/281

 (Fig. 1027), and (f) two plates from the left-hand saddle burr, No. 108 in the 1904 Windsor Catalogue.

Before closing this chapter we will quote Dr. Bashford Dean's account of the composition of the Genouilhac suit, for the reader will wish to know more about the details of this armour, and to compare them with what we think is the work of the same armourer in the possession of the nation. "The entire suit is without the blemish of a modern piece in any essential part Not merely is the suit complete, but with it a series of extra pieces, a locking gauntlet (Fig. 1022), a reinforcing plate for the plastron (Fig. 1028) with a large lance rest, a supplemental plate for the abdomen, and a rare defence worn within the breastplate, of which I have seen but a single other specimen (see Fig. 1028). For a harness of this kind it has a greater number of these pièces de renfort than any other armour described. And, sad to tell, it has lost still other pieces; for studying the pegs or the pinions which were arranged for supporting supplemental pieces, we can see clearly that at one time it has had a heavy face defence, an extra armplate, and a shoulder guard. Then, too, it has with it the high-plated saddle, the long neck defence for the horse, and a beautiful horse-helmet  original straps are in many cases preserved, their rivets neatly tinned to protect them from the perspiration of the wearer; but, rarest of all, the surface of the armour is in excellent state—at certain points the gilding is practically as fresh as when it left the hands of its maker the armour is dated; the number 1527 occurring in the ornamentation no less than three times."