A superhero out of Classical mythology, Hercules was famed for his enormous strength. In the second of his legendary twelve labours, he had to kill the Lernaean Hydra, a giant many-headed snake.

This remarkable parade shield is decorated with an vigorous imagining of this episode, with Hercules facing an even more hideous monster – in addition to its reptilian heads, the artist has added a profusion of repulsive crab legs and a whip-like tail growing out of a heavily armoured body.