Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/205

 *portant national and even private collections of Europe and America. They happen to be individual or separate head-pieces that were made to complete what was already a suit of armour, perfect in all its parts and adequate to all the requirements of the military exercises of the time. They are to be seen in the National Armouries of Spain, of Vienna, of Paris, in the armoury of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and in a few private collections. The one which we illustrate is in the collection of Mr. Felix Joubert (Fig. 1258), who obtained it some five years ago from a private collection in Spain. We choose this specimen as showing this type of head-*piece in as complete a condition as anyone could wish. In the matter of its decoration it resembles a suit at Madrid and the extra pieces of plate armour of the same harness which were made originally for Philip II of Spain, and are to-day to be found in various collections; so that possibly this casque may be considered to have been produced under the direct influence of Sigismund Wolf. In the Wallace Collection (No. 520) is a partially close helmet from the same suit of armour (ante, Fig. 1189). Reverting to the casque illustrated in Fig. 1258, we may add that its workmanship is of the very first order. The metal used is substantial and excellent; while the etched, gilded, and slightly embossed effects employed in the ornamentation are quite in the perfect taste of the time. Unlike the helmet in the Wallace Collection, or the parts of the suit in the Royal Spanish Armoury, this casque has never suffered from overcleaning. When it was first received from Spain it was found to be coated with many layers of thick varnish which had been applied repeatedly for many generations to protect both its enriched and plain surfaces from the effect of rust oxidization, and when these were removed by Mr. Joubert the gilding and the original burnished surfaces on the plain steel surfaces were seen to be preserved in their original state.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF SOME BURGONETS OF ENGLISH ORIGIN

We have referred to the armourer, Jacob Topf, as the possible maker of the helmet H 251 in the Musée d'Artillerie (Fig. 1255); we will now give illustrations (Figs. 1259, 1260, and 1261) of those open casques with their buffes attached, which, in the opinion of the author, are the work of the English armourers, including Jacobe, who worked at Greenwich. The three