The characteristic elongated, slightly curved form flanked by two stitched side sections with apertures for eyes, each with two leather hooks for attaching, embroidered in relief with metal threads, comprising a repeat
cintamani pattern.
shield: 51.5 cm.
horse head ware: 44 by 38.5 cm.
quiver: 47 by 26 cm.
CATALOGUE NOTE
There are few examples of metal-thread embroidered horse fittings. This model takes inspiration from the more classical steel and tombak examples comprised of three parts. The form, in turn, is relate-able to a late 15th, early 16th century chamfron. The Flemish diplomat and ambassador to Constantinople eloquently describes the Ottoman predilection for horse accessories: ‘The Turkish horseman presents a very elegant spectacle, mounted on a horse of Cappadocian or Syrian or some other good breed, with trappings and horse-cloths of silver spangled with gold and precious stones’ (Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, The Turkish letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Imperial ambassador at Constantinople 1554-1562, trans. E.S. Forster, Oxford, 1927).