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Fig. 626. Tilting shield of wood, hide, and gesso
German, early XVIth century. No. 324, Wallace Collection
The exterior surface is black, with an interlaced flowering design in gold. In the centre is a ribbon, upon which is an inscription, in Gothic characters, nearly obliterated and wholly illegible except the word EWIG. On the interior are an iron hook and two eyelets. Mr. Planché, in his Cyclopaedia of Costume, describes it as an ordinary fighting shield. But it assuredly belongs to a tilting harness; for in Burgkmair's "Triumph of Maximilian" certain of the knights are seen bearing a similar mentonnière shield. We will refrain from giving further illustrations of such shields; for they are all of the same order and show but little variety. Moreover, we have alluded to and illustrated them on page 48 (Fig. 399), where they are shown in conjunction with the tournament salade head-piece with which they were worn.
