**A CAP-A-PIE ARMOUR FOR THE 'JOUSTS REAL', WITH ETCHED DECORATION, 19TH CENTURY IN THE SOUTH GERMAN STYLE OF CIRCA 1520 of exceptional weight, comprising helm of pronounced 'frog-mouthed' shape formed of a front and a rear section joined to one another at each side by a push-button operated spring-catch and a pair of screws, the front section formed of an upper and a lower plate joined by rivets at each side at the level of the broad vision-slit and pierced at the right with a large sub-rectangular ventilation-hole closed by a hinged trap-door secured by a sprung sliding catch, the rear section formed of a single plate contoured to the back of the head and neck, medially ridged in its upper part, fitted at the back with an upstanding plume-holder and pierced at each side with lace-holes fitted in each case with copper eyelets for the attachment of an arming-cap, and both the front and rear sections extending downwards over the cuirass to which it is attached by bolts; breastplate of rounded, medially-ridged form, pierced beneath its straight upper edge with a pair of threaded holes to accommodate the bolts that attached the helm and at the left of the chest with three similar holes for those that attach a shoulder-shield, and fitted within its right arm-opening with a large semi-circular flange, at the right of the chest with four pierced staples for the attachment of a rigid lance rest fitted at the centre of its arm with a red velvet-covered block of wood, and within its lower edge with waist-lame flanged outwards to receive a fauld of three lames, the lowest of which is cut at its centre with a shallow arch separating a pair of pendent medially-ridged one-piece tassets, the left of which is considerably longer than the right, each suspended by a pair of straps (broken) from the second lame of the fauld; backplate formed of a straight-topped main plate fitted within its lower edge with a waist-lame flanged outwards to receive a culet of three lames; shoulder-shield of sub-trapezoidal form, curving forward at its top and bottom, pierced to the right of centre with three holes to receive its retaining screws, and reinforced peripherally and in a diagonal trellis-pattern with applied half-round strips decorated with roping; spaudlers each of four lames, the first decorated medially with a rib, linked by a turner to a fully articulated vambrace formed of a tubular upper and lower cannon linked to one another by an intervening winged bracelet couter and, in the case of the right, a series of lames protecting the inside of the elbow, the right couter decorated across its front with a medial rib and the left pierced at its front with a threaded hole for the attachment of a large shell-like reinforce covering its front and outside; mitten gauntlet for the right hand formed of a flared and rounded cuff boxed along its upper surface, closed by riveting at its inside, decorated with a large almond-shaped boss over the end of the ulna, and fitted with three metacarpal-plates and three shaped finger-plates; manifer for the left hand of similar form to the right gauntlet but having a larger and more markedly flared cuff and a single finger-plate fitted on its upper surface with a flanged thumb-defence; cuisses each formed medially with a raised rib and fitted at its lower end with a poleyn of five lames, the third of which is shaped to the point of the knee, decorated with a similar rib and formed at its outside with a large medially-puckered oval side-wing; and full-length tubular greaves each fitted within the arched lower edge of its front plate with a broad-toed sabaton of eight lames, the last of which is decorated with a medial rib; the main edges of the armour decorated at points with boldly roped inward turns, and its surfaces etched throughout with bands, borders and panels of foliate interlace and scrolls inhabited by grotesques and flower-heads, all on a blackened and stippled ground (some parts of the armour showing patches of light recent rust) See note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands Provenance The Duque del Infantado, Madrid, May 1931 JWHA Inv. No. 1649 Exhibited Rensselaer County Junior Museum, Troy, NewYork, 1 October - 5 September 1975 Children's Museum, Hartford, Connecticut, March - April 1976 WBZ Television, 14 January 1980 The design of the armour is inspired by that in the Real Armeria, Madrid, Inv. No. A 37, made for the Emperor Charles V, probably by Koloman Helmschmied of Augsburg circa 1520. See Calvert 1907, pl. 23 and Godoy et.al 1991, pp. 118-22.
