be regarded as of Italian provenance owing to certain technicalities of its workmanship, No. 316 of the Wallace Collection (Fig. 1031), shows in marked degree this fashion of breadth as opposed to height. This suit, now slightly restored, we shall examine in detail, since it is easily accessible to the reader. Sir Richard Wallace obtained it with the collection of the Count de Nieuwerkerke, previous to which its principal plates were in the possession of Monsieur E. Juste of Paris. The borders of the whole suit are of triangular section. The head-piece is a close helmet of the armet type, the chin-piece opening down the centre, with a pointed visor and mezail in one plate; to the back of the helmet is attached the rondel. The rest of the suit is composed of gorget, globose breastplate with laminated gussets, taces of four plates, and tassets of four plates; while upon the breastplate is etched a crowned W, and a ribbon beneath containing the initials D. I. D. M. E. Under this is the inscription: IHESVS . NAZARENVS . REX . IVDEORV. To the backplate is attached a garde-de-rein of three plates, the shoulders being protected by pauldrons to which are attached upright shoulder guards, rere- and vambraces, large and shapely elbow-cops, and mitten gauntlets. The leg armour comprises cuisses, knee-cops, jambs, and square-toed sollerets.
The difficulty of distinguishing the nationality of a harness, a difficulty upon which we have laid stress more than once, is again exemplified when we come to examine the well-mounted suit of much the same character preserved in the Stibbert Collection, Florence (Fig. 1032). It differs but little in form from the last Italian suit described; yet in several places it bears a Nuremberg armourer's mark. Again, look at the beautiful figure of St. George in the picture of "St. George and the Dragon" by Paris Bordone (Fig. 1033), and you see a German suit figuring in a strictly Italian picture. Thus it is throughout the XVIth century. Unless the name of the armourer who produced a harness is known, it is often a matter of mere guesswork to attempt to credit a suit to a particular country, even if it possesses some characteristic features, such features being liable to contemporary imitation in other countries.
MAXIMILIAN SCHOOL—SUITS WITH CHANNELLED
SURFACES
We will now take the channelled armour of the so-called Maximilian form. It was, as we have said, during the reign of the Emperor Maximilian I that in Germany this type of armour took the place of the Gothic armour still
