A NORTH EUROPEAN CULET FROM A CUIRASSIER'S ARMOUR, EARLY 17TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY FRENCH OR FLEMISH of strongly flaring form, composed of five upward-overlapping lames, the first of which is cut at each of its upper corners with a rectangular notch and pierced at its left and right sides respectively with a keyhole-slot and circular hole, the latter accompanied by a swivel-hook, the upper edges of the remaining lames and the lower edge of the final lame each cusped five times, the last lame embossed at its centre with fleur-de-lys flanked by a pair of laurel branches and decorated at each side with two groups of twenty-five round-headed rivets arranged in rosette-formation, the main edges of the culet decorated with file-roped inward-turns, accompanied in the case of the upper one with a centrally-cusped raised rib and in the case of the lower and lateral ones by recessed borders, its subsidiary edges decorated with incised lines (patinated overall; the first lame with minor cracks and a small patched repair at its left articulation point)