According to equestrian manuals, this mouthpiece, with its rounded elements called melons, was designed to ‘disarm’ the lips (they remove the thick lips from the bars, the part of the horses’ jaw without teeth, so that the mouthpiece can keep contact with them).
The bit, decorated with chiseled vegetal and grotesque Renaissance designs, would have been used during parades or luxurious equestrian games. It would have been combined with a richly decorated horse tack, possibly displaying similar ornaments.
Though the mouthpiece, the chain between the shanks, and the swivel rein rings, may incorporate some old elements, they are modern replacements.
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Title:Curb Bit
Date:second half 16th century; 19th century
Culture:North Italian
Medium:Iron alloy, gold
Dimensions:H. 11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm); W. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); Wt. 1 lb. 12.3 oz. (802.3 g)
Classification:Equestrian Equipment-Bits
Credit Line:Gift of Alan Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, 1951
Object Number:51.170.5
Charles Davis; Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, Allamuchy, N. J.
London. Burlington Fine Arts Club. "Exhibition of Chased and Embossed Steel and Iron Work of European Origin," 1900, no. 17.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Arms and Armor," February 6–April 16, 1911, no. 109.
Louisville, Ky. Speed Art Museum. "A Loan Exhibition of Equestrian Equipment from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 4–July 3, 1955, no. 21.
Detroit. Detroit Institute of Arts. "Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400–1600," November 18, 1958–January 4, 1959, no. 214.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance," October 22, 1977–January 8, 1978.
Burlington Fine Arts Club and John Starkie Gardner. Exhibition of Chased and Embossed Steel and Iron Work of European Origin. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900. p. 68, pl. XL, no. 17, case M.
Dean, Bashford, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Arms and Armor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, February the Sixth to April the Sixteenth. New York: Gilliss Press, 1911. no. 109, pl. XLVI, ill.
Dean, Bashford. The Collection of Arms and Armor of Rutherford Stuyvesant, 1843–1909. New York: privately printed, 1914. p. 51, no. 49, pl. XXII, il..
Grancsay, Stephen V. "Reports of the Departments." Eighty-Second Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1951 in the MMA Bulletin 11 pp. 20–21, 23, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V. A Loan Exhibition of Equestrian Equipment from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Catalogue. Louisville, Ky.: Speed Art Museum, 1955. no. 21, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of European Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1956), p. 226, ill.
Detroit Institute of Arts and Paul L. Grigaut. Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance, 1400–1600: [exhibition] the Detroit Institute of Arts, November 18, 1958–January 4, 1959. Detroit: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1958. no. 214.
Grancsay, Stephen V., D. Graeme Keith, and Dr. Charles Avery. The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance. San Francisco: Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1977. no. 122, pp. 48, 86.
Stamped with the armorer's name, LIONARDO (Italian, probably active in Milan, ca. 1440)
ca. 1440
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