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Probably French (Paris) school, about 1570-80 H 254, Musée d'Artillerie, Paris

late style of its art, but we are lost in admiration of the workmanship and the wealth of ornament lavished on this helmet. We are thinking not so much of the labour involved in adding such a mass of ornament, as of the dexterity shown by the armourer in enriching the surface in such a fashion as not really to interfere with its general outline; for in the decoration of this particular casque the proper feeling for what becomes a head-piece modelled on classic principles cannot be said to have been altogether lost sight of. This casque, like the shield en suite with it, is embossed in low relief with figures of satyrs, female figures, cornucopiae, scrolls, etc., and the reliefs are russeted and inlaid, both with gold and silver, on a ground surface