Exhibition dates: December 14, 2004 – January 15, 2006
Location: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Gallery, Arms and Armor Galleries
Forty rare examples of European horse armor – varying in style, construction, and decoration – will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 14, 2004. The exhibition, The Armored Horse in Europe, ca. 1475 to 1625 – drawn exclusively from the Museum's own collection – will cover the peak period of the use of horse armor from around 1500 through its eventual obsolescence in the early 17th century. Established in 1912, the Metropolitan's Department of Arms and Armor houses the most extensive collection of European horse armor in the United States and one of the most comprehensive in the world.
At its greatest point of development, from the late 15th to the mid-16th century, a 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; crinet, which extends from the top of the chanfron down the crest and neck to the withers; peytral, which covers the horse's breast and shoulders; flanchards, which guard the rib and abdomen areas below the sides of the saddle; and crupper, which protects the rump, thighs, and hind quarters.
The exhibition will include important examples of each type, so that both the development of the various forms and styles of decoration can be compared first-hand.
The horse was an integral part of medieval and Renaissance culture, not only as a beast of burden and an essential means of transportation, 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 and often wore armor as elaborate and expensive as that of their riders.
Artistic representations, archaeological finds, and literary evidence show that heavily armored horses were already having a significant impact on the tactics and makeup of armies from the middle of the first millennium B.C. in areas as diverse as Egypt, Persia, Central Asia, and China. By the seventh century, armored horses had become the dominant element of the armies of the great empires of the world – from China through Central Asia, the emerging Islamic states of the Middle East, and, to some extent perhaps, early medieval Europe. This trend continued in some areas for nearly another one thousand years. Horse armor was probably first introduced into Europe before the Roman period, during the Greek colonization of southern Italy in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.
It was not until the 13th century, however, that armor for horses, fashioned as rigid plates of steel or leather, began to appear regularly in Western Europe. Although no horse armor from that early period has survived, its initial stages of development can be traced through representations in illuminated manuscripts and other works of art. One of the earliest three-dimensional representations of a fully armored European horse is a carved ivory chess piece, a knight, dated to about 1370, which will be on display in the exhibition.
While the majority of objects in the Metropolitan Museum's collection of horse armor date from the 16th century, the collection includes several earlier and much rarer examples of the late Gothic style. Among these are portions of two 15th-century horse armors whose plates are decorated with a series of light-catching ridges and channels, and a 'blind' chanfron used in the joust in which the horse's head was completely covered so as to prevent the animal from swerving when charged by the opposing rider.
Later works on view will include three pieces of a leather horse armor, the only examples of this kind in the United States and among the handful surviving worldwide; an extensive group of chanfrons, demonstrating the range of styles and decoration that evolved over the course of the 16th century; and an armored saddle, with its original velvet-covered upholstery, as well as several examples of the detached steel plates, called steels, which transformed the saddle into an integral part of the armor for both horse and man. Highlights include the richly colored and gilt chanfron of the wealthy and powerful Polish nobleman Nikolaus IV 'the Black' Radziwill (1515-1565); a chanfron made for Ottheinrich (1502-1559), Count Palatine of the Rhine, in 1529, perhaps on the occasion of his marriage; and a third 'parade' chanfron of fantastic dragon-like form made in the late 15th century and redecorated in 1539 for use by the heir to the French throne, Dauphin Henry of Valois (1519-1559), who ruled as King Henry II from 1547. The majority of the objects are drawn from the Department of Arms and Armor's reserve collection and have not been shown or published in many decades.
A group of four extremely rare and complete 16th-century armors for man and horse forms the centerpiece of the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court, at the very heart of the department's permanent galleries. While not featured specifically in the exhibition, the armors will be discussed in detail in the catalogue.
The Armored Horse in Europe, ca. 1475 to 1625 will be accompanied by a catalogue written by Stuart W. Pyhrr, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Curator in Charge, Donald J. LaRocca, Curator, and Dirk H. Breiding, Curatorial Assistant, all in the Department of Arms and Armor. It will be published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press. The publication will be available in the Museum's bookshops for $14.95 (paperback).
The exhibition is organized by Donald J. LaRocca and Dirk H. Breiding.
The exhibition will be featured on the Museum's Web site (www.metmuseum.org).
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