Wrought in one piece, the skull with three fluted ridges, the peak embossed with a grotesque mask. The skull with the Farnese fleur de lys and floral scroll on each side. Roped combs and border. Traces of leather  binding for retaining the liner. From the body-guard of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. A portrait by Titian of Duke Pier Luigi, who reigned from 1545 to 1547, in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, shows him with his standard bearer at his side wearing one of these burgonets. See J.F. Hayward, “Les Collections du Palais de Capodimonte, Naples”,  Armes Anciennes, p. 148, fig.3/4. A number of these helmets  are preserved in the former Farnese Armoury, Palazzo di Capodimonte, Naples. One presently on view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and another in L’Armeria Reale Di Torino.

Condition: Very fine overall, but for a few minor cracks around the border and a few minor holes on the top of the skull .

Price – SOLD