Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/201

 Italian influence. But if it be from the hand of Jacob Topf this can be easily understood; as before he worked at Innsbruck, Topf is known to have been in Milan, and consequently would have been acquainted with the work of the Milanese armourers. Therefore we take it that this casque is a parade helmet of German workmanship, but very strongly influenced, both as regards form and decoration, by the Italian training of the armourer.

German work about 1570. Imperial Armoury, Vienna

It is not until the German armourers of the second half of the XVIth century essay to imitate the richly embossed and damascened parade casque of Italian origin, for which by that time there was a universal demand, that one really notes how debased became the forms of such enrichment, as applied to the surface of plate armour. The example we give of a German