Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/175

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Fig. 1231B. Right cuissard

From the suit, G 178, in the Musée d'Artillerie, showing the armourer's mark of the Negroli. Circa 1520

The general construction of the Morgan head-piece (Fig. 1232, a, b) will be observed to resemble that of the three helmets which are certainly the work of the Negroli (Figs. 1226, 1227, and 1228). In place of the figure of the Roman warrior forming the comb, we see the figure of a woman, whose extended hands grasp the hair of a female mask immediately above the umbril. The termination of the figure is foliated finally to merge into the arrangement of spiral scrolls that occupy generally the skull-piece of the helmet. The decorations on the sides of the casque have as a central ornament the half figure of a boy. The entire surface of this superb burgonet is a fine brown black; there are no traces of gold enrichment—gold appearing solely on the additional forehead piece, to which we have alluded, in the form of an inscription, the deciphering of which enabled us to identify this head-piece as one which for over half a century had been lost sight of. In the