This muzzle is composed of a basket made of several pierced iron panels riveted together, with two kidney-shaped openings at the front for the horse’s nostrils. It hung on the horse’s head by means of a leather headstall. This example, dated 1567 at the front, is decorated overall with gilded vines of morning glory leaves.
Horse muzzles were used to preventing stallions from biting. Such pieces, however, seem to have above all been used as lavish equestrian ornaments, particularly in fashion in eastern Germany in the second half of the 16th and the early 17th century. This pierced decoration is typical of the work of the spur makers living in the southeast of Germany and Saxony in the 16th and 17th centuries. Despite their name, spur makers not only made spurs, but also small equestrian hardware like bits, stirrups, muzzles, cavessons or curry-combs, sometimes adorned with the same intricate decoration.
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Title:Horse Muzzle
Date:dated 1567
Culture:German
Medium:Iron, gold
Dimensions:H. 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm); W. 8 in. (20.3 cm); D. 10 in. (25.4 cm); Wt. 2 lb. 2 oz. (963.9 g)
Classification:Equestrian Equipment
Credit Line:Gift of William H. Riggs, 1913
Object Number:14.25.1683
Inscription: On the front part: 1567
William H. Riggs, Paris (until 1913; his gift to MMA).
Hagerstown, Md. Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. "Loan Exhibition of Medieval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 27–March 31, 1955, no. 44.
Newark. Newark Museum Association. "Loan Exhibition of Medieval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 15–September 15, 1955, no. 44.
Flint. Flint Institute of Arts. "The Art of the Armorer," December 7, 1967–April 1, 1968, no. 33.
Seattle, Wash. Seattle Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 11, 1982–June 6, 1982, no. 31.
Denver, Colo. Denver Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 18–October 10, 1982, no. 31.
San Antonio, Tex. Witte Museum of the San Antonio Museum Association. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 13, 1982–February 5, 1983, no. 31.
Minneapolis, Minn. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 24–July 31, 1983, no. 31.
San Francisco. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1983–January 28, 1984, no. 31.
Detroit, Mich. Detroit Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 4–June 17, 1984, no. 31.
Kreutzberger, Hans. Eigentliche Wolgerissene Contrafactur vnd Formen der Gebisz für allerley mängel auch vnderrichtung der pferdt mit aller zugehörung Cappetzoni Naszbender vnd was einem jeden pferdt seinem Reutter gehorsam zumachen vonnötten ist. Vienna: Nicolaum Pierium, 1591. (similar muzzles illustrated).
Spitzer, Frédéric. "Armes et Armures." In La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité--Moyen-Âge--Renaissance. Vol. VI. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1892. p. 98, no. 505, ill.
Galerie Georges Petit. Catalogue des Armes et Armures Faisant Partie de la Collection Spitzer. Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, June 10–14 1895. no. 462, fig. 47, ill. (MMA piece, purchaser RIggs, 680 frs.).
Stegmann, H. E. "Andreas Herneisen." Mitteilungen aus dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum p. 4, fig. 1, ill. (second row, 5th portrait of Martin Pfeiffer Sporer by Andreas Herneisen in a series of portraits of Nuremberg's " Schützmeister" in the Schiesshaus zu Forstof in Nuremberg, painted between 1565–1582; he is holding a similar muzzle).
Grancsay, Stephen V., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. Loan Exhibition of Medieval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hagerstown, Md.: Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, February 27–March 31, 1955. p. 14, no. 44, ill.
Flint Institute of Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Art of the Armorer. Flint, Mich., December 7, 1967–April 1, 1968.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Helmut Nickel, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Leonid Tarassuk, and American Federation of Arts. The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Exhibition. New York: The Federation, 1982. p. 75. , no. 31, ill.
Chodyński, Antoni Romuald. "Horse Muzzles." Waffen– und Kostümkunde: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für historische Waffen– und Kostümkunde, Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 46, ser. 3 v. 29 pp. 11, 18, no. 20, fig. 13, ill. (one of six MMA muzzles included in this survey).
Attributed to Heinrich Heid von Winterthur (probably Swiss, active Stuttgart, recorded 1453–1460)
dated 1460
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