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Saddle

ca. 1400–1420
Not on view
This is one of about twenty known Medieval saddles decorated with bone plaques. The saddles vary somewhat in decoration, but certain motifs are common throughout. For instance, Saint George, standing over the defeated dragon, appears with elegant couples on most of the saddles. Used in parade, they were probably more ceremonial than utilitarian.

The bone plaques used to create the saddle, probably from the pelvic bones of large animals such as cows, are attached to the core with bone pins and glue. The underside is lined with hide and birch bark.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Saddle
  • Date: ca. 1400–1420
  • Geography: Made in Bohemia, Central Europe
  • Culture: Central European
  • Medium: Bovine bone (body of saddle), deer antler and bone (decorative elements), limewood, rawhide, birchbark, and metal paint
  • Dimensions: Overall ((a) Saddle): 13 5/16 × 20 1/2 × 13 5/8 in. (33.8 × 52.1 × 34.6 cm)
    Overall (b-blanket): 30 7/8 × 27 1/4 in. (78.4 × 69.2 cm)
  • Classification: Ivories-Bone
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1940
  • Object Number: 40.66a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

More Artwork

More Artwork
Parade Saddle, Bone, polychromy, wood, birch bark, German or Tyrolean
Parade Saddle
German or Tyrolean
1400–1450
Parade Saddle, Bone, polychromy, wood, leather, iron alloy, German or Tyrolean
Parade Saddle
German or Tyrolean
ca. 1450
Chess Piece in the Form of a Knight, Ivory (elephant), Western European, possibly England
Chess Piece in the Form of a Knight
Western European, possibly England
ca. 1350–60
Saddle, Wood (birch), staghorn, bone, pigskin, birch bark, traces of pigment, German
Saddle
German
ca. 1400
Aquamanile in the Form of Aristotle and Phyllis, Bronze; Quaternary copper alloy (approx. 72% copper, approx. 17% zinc,<br/>approx. 6% lead, approx. 3% tin)., South Netherlandish
Aquamanile in the Form of Aristotle and Phyllis
South Netherlandish
late 14th or early 15th century

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