Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/113

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Fig. 1162. Buffe

From the lost burgonet belonging to the suit (Fig. 1160). Armoury of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Malta

  • plete suit of blue and gold armour (Fig. 1160). This actual suit of armour is

now to be seen in the Armoury of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Malta. Although the surface of the existing suit is no longer blued, the gilding upon it, despite the deteriorating effects of the sirocco winds of Malta, is in a splendid state of preservation. Look at the illustration of the armour (Fig. 1161), and then look at its representation in the portrait: it will be noted that the armour coincides plate for plate, detail for detail, save that the toe-caps, the lance-rest, and the fingers of the gauntlets are missing. In the portrait the page standing by Verdelain bears the close helmet which is now on the suit. Before the author rearranged the Armoury at Malta, this really fine and well-made suit was a hopeless mass of rust and paint, its parts wired together in shapeless confusion; but careful personal work upon it brought it back to its present satisfactory appearance. It is nearly complete in all its parts, having the characteristic peascod breastplate of the very last years of the XVIth century, complete arms, consisting of pauldrons, rere-