Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/293

 of the XVth century, and the splinted defence for the inside of the arms, which shows that the suit was intended for combat on foot as well as for use on horseback. When used on foot the large heart-shaped wings of the coudes could be removed, as there are smaller wings beneath them. The upright neck-guards upon the pauldrons are uncommonly large, and the helmet, which opens down the chin and is rimmed on to the gorget, is of the finest form. The only alteration made in this harness since the day it was made appears to be the substitution of taces and tassets from some other contemporary suit; for what reason this was done it is impossible to say. We detect this alteration from the fluting of their surface, which varies a little from that of the remainder of the suit.

Another Nuremberg harness, now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, is that formerly in the Dino Collection (Fig. 1037). Although composite to a certain extent, it possesses fine plates. The concavity is very pronounced in the grooving of the breastplate; the visor of the helmet is of the form called "bellows"; the modelling of the breastplate is typically German; the gauntlets are mittens and the sollerets are broad and square at the toes; whilst the whole shape of the armour is a good example of the change which took place in German civil costume in the early years of the XVIth century. The shoulder guards of this suit differ from those of the Costessey harness: for in place of the full pauldrons simple espaliers are to be observed more like those on the second Italian suit illustrated. This suit is undoubtedly German, and was probably made in Nuremberg within the first half of the XVIth century.

The Rotunda, Woolwich

In our own country these fluted Maximilian harnesses are to be seen in the private collections of Lord Somers at Eastnor Castle, of Lord Hastings at Melton Constable, of the Earl of Warwick at Warwick Castle, of the Earl of Harrington at Elvaston Castle, and of Viscount Astor at Hever Castle. The attention of the collector is particularly directed to a breastplate in the Rotunda at Woolwich. This piece is an early example, the fluting and roping is superbly bold, and the suit to which it belonged must