Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/170

 On the front part Victory and Fame are holding the moustaches of a Turk wearing the lorica and lying on his back, thus fancifully forming a crest. In many parts the helmet is damascened with gold. On the front, between the two figures, is a shield, on which in letters inlaid in gold are inscribed the words: "." Inside the umbril of the helmet is the inscription: "."

The casque in the Musée d'Artillerie is also in the fluent style of these same armourers' work, and is ornamented with small arabesques of inlaid silver. Here the principal point of divergence from the Madrid example is the fact that the shield on the front of the helmet bears the following Greek inscription inlaid in gold, though much rubbed: "[Greek: TAU[TA]IS PROS ASTE[RAS]]" (Translation, "By them [Fame and Victory] I reach the stars"). The comb is formed by the body of a dead warrior, guarded by the figures of Fame and Victory embossed on either side of the casque. The Stuyvesant example, though fine in general form and equally good in outline, is inferior to the other two casques. In all three head-*pieces the general design is the same, with slight variation; so doubtless the general model was much in favour. The Madrid and Paris casques are undoubtedly the work of the Negroli themselves; but the Stuyvesant helmet, which is less skilful than the other two in execution, was probably the work of an apprentice. Paolo Morgia, in his Nobilità di Milano, 1595, says that Filippo Negroli made "celate e rotelle miracolose," and that he had two brothers who worked with him, the "Filippus et fratres" of the Madrid casque. Alluding as we have been to the work of the brothers Negroli, a characteristic feature of which is a rare feeling for the grotesque, we take the opportunity of referring to that curious open helmet of the casque type which is now to be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of New York (Fig. 1229). The skull-piece is in the form of the upper portion of the human head, showing a shock of curly hair admirably rendered, bound by a chaplet in the form of oak leaves and gilt acorns. The ear-pieces are formed on the side pieces of the casque. This casque in the Metropolitan Museum of New York was purchased with the Dino Collection. Discovered at Seville in 1872 by the painter Fortuny, and sold in Paris after his death, it passed into the collection of M. Basilewski, who exhibited it at the Historical Exhibition at the Trocadero Palace in 1878. M. Piot purchased it from M. Basilewski, but sold it at a later date to the Duc de Dino. In the Imperial Armoury of Vienna, and in the Royal Armoury of Madrid, are two other casques of the same kind, both signed by the Negroli; so it seems safe to consider that the Metropolitan