etching/engraving on 16th century armor

[woodwose]

I've been trying to think of a motto or motif to etch/engrave into the plaque sort of area at the top of my early 16th century german breastplate... from the bit of looking I've done so far they seemed to have either some kind of little floral design or something religious/devotional in nature, or nothing at all in many woodcuts...

but I'm wondering how commonly a personal motto was used instead, or a motto that plays off or is supported by other motifs in the armor.

I'm in the process of reworking my almain and want to pimp it out a bit with some fluting and engraving in addition to refitting... and this idea just hit me, but I'm wondering if I can support it with anything on armor and not just in period art.

last semester I looked at a lot of "Dance with Death" and "Death and the ______" (farmer, cobbler, knight, soldier, gambler, etc) sort of prints while researching a project for my printmaking class... so maybe a "death and the soldier" kind of motif for this armor to go with my landsknecht kit.
I'm thinking about the motto "Bloody Ground - Fertile Soil" in german or latin. Above "Bloody Ground" would be small "Death and the Landsknecht" (or Reislaufer) etched/engraved image; and I think above "Fertile Soil" would be a very Bosch (Garden of Earthly Delights) inspired scene of a guy peeling a giant pomegranit and some other small Boschy things related to fertility.

I could do these things as prints and have nice documntation in art from the right few decades in the right area for the armor, but would this fly as a motif for armor?

to go with it I'm thinking of a helm that is kind of like Henry VIII's grotesque parade helm with the face and glasses and horns, but no horns or glasses, and a skeletal face with the rest of the helm being a close helm resembling a stylized landsknecht arming cap.

what do ya all think?

[woodwose]

This page has pics of the armor I'm reworking:
http://members.tripod.com/~mailmaker/ar ... fpics.html

and pics of breastplates with the area that I called a plaque sort of area (between the top of the breastplate and a small horizontal raised out lip thats somewhere around a hands-width from the top of the breastplate):

http://www.myarmoury.com/albums/display ... 12&pos=136
http://www.myarmoury.com/albums/display ... 12&pos=161

[Gottfried]

I don’t know if this is what you where looking for but this Breast plate has an inscription in German that say’s original spelling : vnver svcht ist vnerfaren; in modern German unversucht ist unerfahren. Translates to untried is not experienced or untried is missed experience .
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77086627@N00/2718127374/" title="breastplate detail by GottfriedKilianus, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/2718127374_2cd0b773ed_o.jpg" width="801" height="906" alt="breastplate detail"></a>
Full rig
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3184/271 ... efa3_o.jpg

Here are some more pictures of engravings in breast plates
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3237/271 ... cfac_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/271 ... a245_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3194/271 ... 57bd_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/271 ... a069_o.jpg

Added some pictures of helms with engravings maybe there is something you like.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3049/271 ... 0034_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/271 ... f4ba_o.jpg

Gottfried

[Thomas Powers]

How about "Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moon light?" should work well with a "Dance of Death" motif.

It will probably look better in Latin...

Thomas

[MJBlazek]

Didn't Ugo make a suit like this with a raven motif?