Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/105

 CHAPTER XXX

We must finally add a few remarks on those suits of the closing years of the XVIth century which constitute the continental but poor equivalent to the type which we have chosen to regard as English made armour. The armour to which we refer is the continental stock pattern harness; like the products of the ready-*made tailor it might almost be described as "reach-me-down." Known under the heading of "Pisan" armour, it must have been the universal parade harness traded in. The north of Italy exported it in very large quantities throughout the closing years of the XVIth and the commencement of the XVIIth centuries. It is to be seen in every public and in most private collections, so that it must have existed in large quantities; even if complete suits are rare to-day, individual parts are constantly coming into the market. Naturally it varies very considerably in its quality; for it is judged not so much from the actual shaping of the plates as from the quality of aqua fortis etching with which it is decorated. This armour is usually made on the simplest possible lines. As the first suit of this nature which we illustrate, we will take a really good and fine example of its kind, a work signed by an armourer of repute, though even in such an example the very scamped nature of the workmanship is at once apparent. The half-suit of armour we refer to is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and was formerly in the Dino Collection. On the front of the breastplate is the signature pomp, which is that of an armourer of Milan named Pompeo della Cesa (or della Chiesa) who worked at the end of the XVIth century. Major Angelucci has found several documents which prove that Pompeo della Cesa did work for General Alessandro Farnese and for Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. In the inventory of the arms of the Duke of Infantado published at Guadalajara in 1643, to which we have already referred, a piece of armour is mentioned as being made by "Pompeyo," which