Once completed the entire armour was etched with designs including Tudor roses, saints and the collar and garter of the Order of the Garter. Anxious to finish the armour on time the etching was undertaken by two or three individuals of varying skill. The etched areas were then gilt, and the entire armour heat-treated to produce a rich peacock blue. The overall effect would have been dazzling, particularly on the tonlet which featured a chequerboard pattern of gold and blue.

One re-used piece is the bascinet, which was originally designed for the tourney on horseback; fought with clubs and rebated swords. However, to ensure it was suitable for use in the foot combat, additional plates, pierced with round holes, were inserted behind the sights to provide increased protection. Only the tonlet, or metal skirt which protected the lower part of the body, and pauldrons were newly made by Henry's armourers.

With the original foot combat armour for the Field of Cloth of Gold (II.6) left incomplete and unfinished, Henry's armourers had just three months to produce a new armour according to the specifications outlined by the French. Lacking time, materials and manpower, Henry's tonlet armour had to be hurriedly assembled by adapting existing pieces and producing a few others from scratch.

C. Paggiarino, The Royal Armouries, masterpieces of medieval and renaissance arms and armour, Milan, 2011, volume 1

A.R. Dufty and W. Reid, European Armour in the Tower of London, 1968, plate X, XI details.

With Italian and Flemish components. Great bacinet made in Milan with modified bellows visor. Cuirass probably Italian or Flemish, etched with flutes. Tonlet skirt made of nine lames front and back, hinged on the left and fastened with a strap and buckle on the right. Nine vertical flutes on each. Pauldrons of seven lames each, upper three articulated by rivets, the lower six by internal leathers, all modern. Vambraces and leg defences probably from Italy or Flanders, adapted from previous field armours. The vambraces have narrow articulate lames protecting the insides of elbow joints; the sabatons are detatchable and fastened to the greaves with studs. Etched decoration retains traces of gilding, and includes: St George, and the Virgin and Child on either side of the bacinet skull, and on the pauldrons; the Order of the Garter around the neck of the basinet, and the garter itself at the top of the left greave. The tonlet was originally gilded in a chequerboard pattern, and is etched with stylised foliage and scales on the upper rows, with Tudor roses below. The original finish on the armour may have been black, producing a striking black and gold chequered pattern

Transferred to the Tower from Greenwich, 1649. The legs were purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund, 1971 from the Dymoke Estate at Scrivelsby house, having been on loan since 1947.

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