Exceptionnelle armure de bataille en acier... - Lot 66 - Pierre Bergé & Associés

Exceptionnelle armure de bataille en acier bleui entièrement décorées de bandes gravées à l'eau-forte et dorées, signée POMPE et attribuée à l'atelier de Pompeo della Cesa, Italie du Nord vers 1585-1595. An exceptional North Italian etched blued and gilt full armour for the field, signed POMPE and attributed to the workshop of Pompeo della Cesa, circa 1585-1595. The entire armour etched with a series of bands filled with complex designs of trophies-of-war involving fantastic beasts, alternating with bands of interlaced strapwork terminating in foliage and punctuated by ovals framing Classical warriors, figures from Roman mythology, warriors in 16th century dress, and small grotesques, and the entire scheme arranged on a framework of blued vacant bands, the armour comprising close helmet with one-piece skull rising to a cable comb, pierced with circular arrangements of ventilation holes behind the ears, the visor and the upper-and lower-bevors pivoting at common points, the visor with slotted sights and later lifting-peg, the upper-bevor pierced with a circular arrangement of small breathes on the right and closed by a hook- and eye-catch, the lowerbevor fitted with later pivoting arm supporting the upper-bevor, fitted with neck-guard of three lames front and rear, the subsidiary edges with incised roping, and the outer edges turned and roped, gorget of one plate front and rear pivoting on a rivet (the upper three lames missing front and rear), breast-plate formed with medial ridge drawn down to a blunt point, out turned at the base, roped over a turned raised flange below the neck, fitted with a pair of moveable arm-gussets, the etched designs centering below the neck on a large oval supported by a pair of angels, filled with the allegorical figure of Victory (or Fame) and the frame of the oval signed POMPE, fitted with folding lance-rest etched en suite and skirt lame carrying a later pair of short tassets each of six lames, back-plate, the etched designs centering