Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/108

 his native city Milan. He had many followers and imitators and, as we have said, since his own work was none of the best, it may well be imagined that the productions of the copyists are the poorest possible examples of the armourer's craft.

Showing an elaborate suit of half armour in the Pisan style

By J. Sustermans. Showing an elaborate suit of half armour in the Pisan style. Now in the collection of Dr. Bashford Dean, New York

If the suit illustrated (Fig. 1155) be examined, the feeble make of the armour itself, the undulations of its plate surfaces, and the poorly fashioned roping that borders the plates will at once be noted. Indeed, this roping would appear to be produced by the mere cut of a file around the thickened edge of the plates. The very hoopiness of the laminated parts, and the tassets of one thin plate of iron, in contrast with the multi-lamed tassets of a previous generation, all show the labour-saving methods of the workmanship. That the breastplate is somewhat formless is a fault due to the moderated peascod fashion prevailing in the closing years of the XVIth century. The two pauldrons are equal in size, the right having no hollow for