central ridge and the elongation of the form make the shield resemble the kite-shaped specimens familiar in nearly all Italian Renaissance ornament. In its section it is longitudinally concave to the body; while at its top right-hand corner we still note the bouche de la lance. The painting upon the surface of the shield, we can safely assign to the school of Cologne of the last quarter of the XVth century. It is a fine work of art, depicting a knight kneeling before his lady and the figure of Death creeping stealthily behind. On a scroll in the background is the French inscription: "VOVS OV LA MORT." The knight is in full armour, a bastard sword hanging at his side; while at his feet are his armet and pole-axe. The composition is painted in polychrome on a gilded ground.
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Fig. 594. Shield Of Wood Covered With Gesso, Painted In Polychrome
Between 1470-1490. Burges bequest, British Museum
We revert again to the heater-shaped shield in reviewing that historical document—the shield hanging above the tomb of Henry V in the Confessor's Chapel of the Abbey church of Westminster (Fig. 595, a, b). With the helm (Fig. 449, a, b) and the saddle (Fig. 963, a, b, c) it hangs, dust covered, high on a beam above the monarch's tomb. Of proportions almost exactly similar to those of the shield of Edward the Black Prince, this achievement still occupies the position in which it was originally placed
