Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/219



Made for Louis XIV of France. Ex Dino Collection. Metropolitan Museum, New York

plated with matted gold. Upon the comb of the skull-piece is a design distinctly Greek in character, rendered almost in chasing, so low is the relief. The comb in front terminates in a winged female figure; while surmounting it is a winged dragon resting on the comb of the helmet. The addition of this monster gives a sense of top-heaviness to the look of the casque; but the author found that when worn no such feeling is experienced. The casque, like the shield of the same panoply, retains its original lining of embroidered blue velvet, almost in its original state of splendour. In the official catalogue of the Musée d'Artillerie the workmanship and style of this helmet are described as Italian; but we regard the casque as another example of the work of some French armourer, dating from the third quarter or even from the last quarter of the XVIth century. Introduced as the central theme of the ornamentation of the skull-piece can be seen the French royal emblem of the crab; while the treatment of the female figure, etc., is in the author's opinion distinctly French. This casque, and the shield and sword en suite with it, were during the first half of the XIXth century in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, but were transferred to the Musée d Artillerie