Helmet all'Antica

Fashioned to resemble a head of tightly curled hair encircled by a wreath of oak leaves, this helmet evokes the appearance of an ancient hero, perhaps a Roman emperor. The reference to the oak (rovere, in Italian) may indicate that the helmet was made for a member of the della Rovere family, dukes of Urbino. The cheek-pieces are probably nineteenth-century restorations.

Credit: Rogers Fund, 1904