The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480–1620

Pyhrr, Stuart W., Donald J. LaRocca, and Dirk H. Breiding (2005)

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Description

An integral part of Renaissance culture, the horse was not only a beast of burden and means of transportation but also a sign of rank and status. For the nobility, horsemanship was an essential skill, both militarily and socially. Since horses played a pivotal role in warfare, tournaments, and ceremonies, they often wore armor as elaborate and expensive as that of their riders. From the late 1400s to the late 1500s, European horse armor became so technically and artistically sophisticated that its finest productions now rank among the greatest achievements of Renaissance decorative arts.

The group of armored equestrian figures forming the centerpiece of the permanent arms and armor exhibition has, for almost a century, been one of the most popular and dramatic areas of the Metropolitan Museum. Aside from the bards (complete horse armors of plate) displayed on the figures, the Museum has many important examples in its reserve collection that are rarely shown, often unpublished, and largely unknown even to specialists. In fact, armor for the horse has generally received much less scholarly attention than that designed for the rider, this volume being the first exclusively devoted to the subject.

The forty objects presented here comprise all the main types of horse defense, each intended to protect a different part of the animal's body: shaffron (head), crinet (neck), peytral (breast and shoulders), flanchard (ribs and abdomen), and crupper (hindquarters). Their range is broad—from a set of rudimentary peytral and crupper plates made of leather (the only examples of this kind in the United States) to an elaborately decorated steel shaffron produced for the Polish prince Nikolaus "the Black" Radziwill. A carved ivory chess piece from about 1370, one of the earliest three-dimensional representations of a European horse in a full bard; an armored saddle with its original velvet upholstery; whimsical ear guards in the shape of dolphins; and a "blind" shaffron made without eye openings to prevent a horse from shying during a joust—all cast light on the various forms and styles developed by armorers of the period. Also revealed is the evolving complexity of the decorative techniques and motifs employed, as horse armor was embossed, etched, gilded, and painted, and ornamentation evolved from simple foliate scrolls to fully realized figural scenes derived from classical mythology.

Placing these objects in context is an essay tracing the history of European horse armor from its revival in the twelfth century (after its disappearance with the fall of Rome) through its flowering in the Renaissance to its eventual obsolescence in the early 1600s. Other texts include a discussion of the featured objects in relation to those in the Museum's permanent display and an overview of armored saddles and saddle steels.

Symbol of a romantic age of chivalry, the knight was inseparable from his horse. This invaluable study reveals another aspect of that interdependence: as armorers devised protective coverings for both rider and animal, they also created lasting works of art.

This catalogue is issued in conjunction with an exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from February 15, 2005, to January 15, 2006.

Table of contents

Introduction
Stuart W. Pyhrr

Horse Armor in Medieval and Renaissance Europe: An Overview
Dirk H. Breiding

Armored Saddles and Saddle Steels
Donald J. LaRocca

Horse Armor in the Permanent Display
Stuart W. Pyhrr

Catalogue

Documentary Objects

Shaffrons and Crinets

Peytrals and Cruppers

Armored Saddles and Saddle Steels

Glossary
Dirk H. Breidling

Bibliography

About the authors

Stuart W. Pyhrr is Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Curator in Charge in the Department of Arms and Armor at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Donald J. LaRocca is Curator in the Department of Arms and Armor at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dirk H. Breiding is Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Arms and Armor at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Press reviews

The Art Book

"... fills a significant gap in the literature on arms and armor and, as befits the scholarship of its contributors and the importance of their museum, fills it extremely well. ... the quality of the photographs is uniformly of the highest standard. ... This catalogue, beautifully written, compiled, and produced at what must be a bargain price will undoubtedly occupy a small space on the bookshelves of all who are interested in armor. It will not be a waste of space on the bookshelf of the art historian interested in context and in widening their understanding of the place—the essential place—of arms and armor in the field of the decorative, applied and fine arts."

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Central Europe (including Germany), 1400–1600 A.D.

Central Europe (including Germany), 1600–1800 A.D.

France, 1400–1600 A.D.

France, 1600–1800 A.D.

Great Britain and Ireland, 1400–1600 A.D.

Great Britain and Ireland, 1600–1800 A.D.

Low Countries, 1400–1600 A.D.

Low Countries, 1600–1800 A.D.

Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.

Venice and Northern Italy, 1600–1800 A.D.

Exhibition

The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480–1620

At its greatest point of development, from the late fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century, complete horse armor consisted of a series of custom-made steel plates, shaped to afford the horse maximum protection while still allowing for freedom of movement. The principal parts of a full horse armor are: the chanfron to protect the horse's head; the crinet, which extends from the top of the chanfron down the crest and neck to the withers; the peytral, which covers the horse's breast and shoulders; the flanchards, which guard the rib and abdomen areas below the sides of the saddle; and the crupper, which protects the rump, thighs, and hindquarters. The exhibition includes important examples of each part, so that both the development of the various forms and styles of decoration can be compared firsthand.

The horse was an integral part of medieval and Renaissance culture, not only as a beast of burden but also as a sign of rank and status. For the nobility, horsemanship was an essential skill, both socially and militarily. Horses played a pivotal role in warfare for several centuries and often wore armor as elaborate and expensive as that of their riders.

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