Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/210

 of ornamentation is conceived in that style of decorative art which is known as the earlier school of Fontainebleau. We are unable to adduce any evidence to identify it with the work of any known armourer.

Possibly French work of about 1545. M 5, Royal Armoury, Madrid

In making out a chronological list of the more celebrated French burgonet helmets of the XVIth century, we are somewhat at a loss to know where to place an example which we regard as a veritable masterpiece of the armourer's art. In the case of a specimen of decorated armour, as in those of many other examples of the applied arts, it often happens that the hand of a great master may be at once recognized, although his name is unknown to us: consequently, save by a consideration of its general style, a definite date cannot easily be assigned to the piece. We are thinking of the so-called Colbert head-piece, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York (Fig. 1264). This magnificent casque, one of the most beautiful of its period known to the author, comes from the family of Colbert, the great minister of Louis XIV; hence the name by which it is known. Along with a close helmet it is illustrated and described by Asselinau in his work on Les Armes et les Armures, Meubles et autres objets du Moyen âge et de la Renaissance. The close helmet was part of a suit of armour, which has since passed into the collection of Viscount Astor (see Vol. iii, page 345, Fig. 1090); the harness formerly belonged to Henri II, a portrait of whom exists showing him wearing it. This suit is known to have been given to Colbert by Louis XIV. It is therefore possible that the Colbert casque was also in