Elaborate Italian Renaissance armour to be sold at Apollo Art Auctions

One of the best-preserved Italian Renaissance armours in private hands comes for sale at Apollo Art Auctions in London on July 13-14 with an estimate of £600,000-£1.2m.

While its background is uncertain (it was perhaps made for Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1520-78) or another governor of the Duchy of Milan), the meticulously etched and gilded infantry parade armour is signed a famed Milanese workshop of the time, Pompeo Della Cesa.

Renaissance infantry armour by Pompeo Della Cesa of Milian, guide £600,000-£1.2m. The engraved vignette of the Virgin and Child to the breastplate is signed Pomp.

It was last sold at Gallerie Fischer (Lucerne, Switzerland) in September 2009 when, guided at SFr250,000-350,000, it took a premium-inclusive SFr798,000 (around £700,000).

The Prince collection, sold by Apollo across recent sales, is thought to be part of the huge holdings of antiquities and other works of art amassed by Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani before his untimely death in 2014. During his lifetime the former Qatari minister of culture and heritage spent more than $1bn (£630m) on art, buying categories as diverse as Islamic art and vintage bicycles.