This remarkable item is the full face helmet of King Henry VIII. Made between 1511 and 1514, It was presented to Henry by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Modeled on Maximillian's face, attention to detail includes facial stubble on the chin.
Courtesy of The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds Collection.
I've never seen a metal mask with such fascinating personal detail. Remarkable is right.
ReplyDeleteThat eyepiece is somehow incongruent with the rest of the mask, like it came from the future, but that makes the whole thing even better. It gives me the sense that an opthalmologist from the 1800's stuck a piece of his eye testing equipment on the mask as a prank.