harnesses, which required only superficial ornamentation in the nature of etching and gilding, and very slight embossing on the parts least exposed to the shock of the opposing lance, he attempted in this suit to excel also in the construction of armour de luxe, and even to improve on the work of his rivals, the brothers Negroli of Milan. But, in spite of this spirit of emulation, Kolman seems to have felt that he lacked the necessary combination of talents to produce, entirely by himself, a work of such sumptuousness; the fact that he permitted another armourer-goldsmith to place his signature by the side of his own on the principal piece of this suit is indeed proof conclusive that the finished suit is a collaboration, and a collaboration done with one whom Kolman fully recognized as his equal as an artist. The collaborator was a German goldsmith, by name Jörg Sigman. Desiderius Kolman must have appreciated in the work of this goldsmith a talent which he thought would enable him to rival the Negrolis in the ornamentation of this armour of parade. Accordingly he accepted Sigman's collaboration and agreed in return to help the goldsmith to obtain his indentures as a master craftsman in Augsburg, which he had failed hitherto to acquire from the municipality; for save by special permission of the Burgomaster and of the Senate no one was allowed to hold the position of master craftsman, or to have a public shop, unless he were a citizen or had been resident in the city for four years. Kolman then, with his influence at the Imperial Court, was able to help Sigman to make good his claim and to bear witness that he had spent four years in assisting him to decorate the armour made for the young Prince, Don Philip. In this way Jörg Sigman obtained the permission for which he craved, that of being allowed to pursue his art as a master craftsman. It was the keeper of the archives of the city of Augsburg, Herr Adolf Buff, who first discovered these details about Jörg Sigman and imparted them to the Count de Valencia. Nearly two years were spent in making this suit of armour, notwithstanding the comparatively small number of parts of which it is composed, Sigman being responsible solely for the delicate ornamentation of relief work, and for the engraved and gold inlaying which make the suit one of the finest extant examples of XVIth century decorated harnesses.
This magnificent parade harness, as we see it to-day in Madrid, consists of a suit of simple armour with a few interchangeable parts and a saddle with its steels. Parts of the suit had long been missing; for prior to the issue of the catalogue of 1849 by Martinez del Romero, the gauntlets, the chanfron for the horse, two additional elbow-cops of the arm guards, and the two
