Cheekpieces of a Curb Bit

Probably used for dressage or leisure riding, this bit, of which the mouthpiece is missing, is entirely adorned with chiseled and pierced vegetal and geometrical motifs, typical of the decoration used by the spur makers in the south east of Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries. Despite their name, spur makers were not only made spurs, but also small equestrian hardware like bits, stirrups, muzzles, cavessons or curry-combs, sometimes adorned with the same intricate decoration.

The object is stamped on both sides with the control mark of Munich: a monk with upraised arms, the city’s heraldic device. Cities’ control marks are rare on iron equestrian equipment, and Munich seems to be the only one in the 17th century to require this practice, which is also documented on contemporary stirrups (see for example 13.104).

The banquets, the parts of the cheekpieces where the mouthpiece is attached, could have been opened to switch out the mouthpiece, a feature particularly appreciated on dressage bits in Germany.