About twenty similarly decorated saddles exist, dating from the late fourteenth to the mid-fifteenth century. The shape, with its low, splayed cantle (rear of the seat), was characteristic of eastern European saddles, but the exact place of origin and original purpose of these examples of elaborately carved bone are unknown. Their decoration typically includes, as on the two examples diplayed here, Saint George and the dragon, unicorns, other mythical beasts, and pairs of lovers, often accompanied by romantic expressions in German script. The carving and inconography are reminiscent of Minnekästen, carved boxes that were given as lover's tokens.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Parade Saddle
Date:ca. 1450
Culture:German or Tyrolean
Medium:Bone, polychromy, wood, leather, iron alloy
Dimensions:H. 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm); L. 22 in. (54.8 cm); W. 17 in. (43.2 cm)
Classification:Equestrian Equipment-Saddles
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1904
Accession Number:04.3.250
Comte Girolamo Possenti de Fabriano, Florence (until 1880; Objets d’art et de curiosité formant la collection de feu M. le Comte Girolamo Possenti de Fabriano, Delange, Florence, April 1, 1880, no. 93, for 2,000 lire); Marchese D***, Genoa (until 1888; Collezione del Marchese D***, Giulio Sambon, Genoa, May 28, 1888, no. 35, sold to von Miller zu Aichholz); Baron Eugen von Miller zu Aichholz, Vienna (1888–before 1901; sold to Dino); Charles Maurice Camille de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, Paris by 1901–04; sold to MMA).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Man And The Horse," December 3, 1984–September 1, 1985.
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Search for the Unicorn: An Exhibition in Honor of The Cloisters' 75th Anniversary," May-14-Aug-18-2013.
Los Angeles. J. Paul Getty Museum. "The Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World," May 14–August 28, 2019, no. 57.
von Schlosser, J., Wendelin Boeheim, and Countess de Valencia de Don Juan. "Elfenbeinsättel des ausgehenden Mittelaltars." Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses Band 15 pp. 260–94.
Cosson, Charles Alexander. Le Cabinet d'Armes de Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1901. p. 49, no. E. 6, pls. 20–21.
Musée de l'Armée and Gustave Léon Niox. Armes & Armures Cnciennes et Souvenirs Historiques, les Plus Précieux. Vol. 1. Paris: Hôtel des Invalides, 1917. pl. 55 (a carved saddle imitating this one).
Laking, Guy Francis, Sir, Charles Alexander Cosson, and Francis Henry Cripps-Day. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries. Vol. III. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1920. pp. 171–72, fig. 979.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "An Early Sculptured Saddle." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32, no. 4 p. 92, n. 6.
Post, Paul. "Falsche mittelalterliche Beinsättel." Mitteilungen des Museen-Verbandes als Manuskript für die Mitglieder gedruckt und ausgegeben im Juli 1938 (1938), pp. 41–48, no. 773, figs. 1–3.
Eisler, J. "Zu den Fragen der Beinsättel des Ungarischen Nationalmuseums. I." Folia Archaeologia 28, part 1 pp. 189–209.
Eisler, J. "Zu den Fragen der Beinsättel des Ungarischen Nationalmuseums II." Folia Archaeologica 30, part 2 pp. 205–44.
Boccia, Lionello G., and Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna. L'Armeria del Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna. Busto Arsizio, Italy: Bramante Editrice, 1991. pp. 111–12, no. 214.
Radway, Robyn Dora. "In the Name of Saint George: Ivory Saddles from the Fifteenth Century." Master's thesis, Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2009. pp. 10, n. 23, pp. 13, n. 30, pp. 41–43, 88, no. 6, figs. 3, 35–36.
Morrison, Elizabeth, and Larisa Grollemond, eds. Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2019. p. 207, no. 57, ill.
Somogyvári, Virág. "The "Unicorn Group": The Possenti Saddle and its Nineteenth-century Copies." In Engraving, Plaster Cast, Photograph - Chapters from the History of Artwork Reproduction. Budapest: ELKH Eötvös Loránd Research Network, 2021. pp. 41–62, figs. 1, 3–9, 12.
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