CHAPTER XXX
THE LATEST XVIth CENTURY SUITS OF CONTINENTAL MAKE—DECADENT ARMOUR COMMONLY KNOWN AS "PISAN"
We must finally add a few remarks on those suits of the closing
years of the XVIth century which constitute the continental but
poor equivalent to the type which we have chosen to regard as
English made armour. The armour to which we refer is the continental
stock pattern harness; like the products of the ready-*made
tailor it might almost be described as "reach-me-down."
Known under the heading of "Pisan" armour, it must have been the universal
parade harness traded in. The north of Italy exported it in very large quantities
throughout the closing years of the XVIth and the commencement of the
XVIIth centuries. It is to be seen in every public and in most private collections,
so that it must have existed in large quantities; even if complete suits are
rare to-day, individual parts are constantly coming into the market. Naturally it
varies very considerably in its quality; for it is judged not so much from the
actual shaping of the plates as from the quality of aqua fortis etching with
which it is decorated. This armour is usually made on the simplest possible
lines. As the first suit of this nature which we illustrate, we will take a really
good and fine example of its kind, a work signed by an armourer of repute,
though even in such an example the very scamped nature of the workmanship is
at once apparent. The half-suit of armour we refer to is now in the Metropolitan
Museum of New York, and was formerly in the Dino Collection. On the front
of the breastplate is the signature pomp, which is that of an armourer of
Milan named Pompeo della Cesa (or della Chiesa) who worked at the end of
the XVIth century. Major Angelucci has found several documents which
prove that Pompeo della Cesa did work for General Alessandro Farnese and
for Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. In the inventory of the arms of the Duke of
Infantado published at Guadalajara in 1643, to which we have already
referred, a piece of armour is mentioned as being made by "Pompeyo," which
