Maciejowski Bible & medieval aquamanile circa 1250 from the MET

 Salvete Omnes,

 

a little excursion to the field of beautiful art and horses in that field, this being the Medieval art naturally.  

I love looking at the illuminations that complement the text of the Maciejowski Bible. Morgan Library's Maciejowski Bible ( created in the French realm for their saintly crusader king Louis IX, ended up in our Polish Kingdom and was a gift sent by our archbishop Bernard Maciejowski - Ciolek coat of arms - to shah Abbas I  of the Safavid Persia)  is just full of amazingly detailed imagery of that XIII century war horse horse & tack, weaponry and costumes notwithstanding.
so some examples for your viewing pleasures - violent as it may be.

 

there are saddles shown in several illuminations, including a driving saddle and tack:

Now, the aquamanile is another beautiful manifestation of the Medieval art and life. Below one of the most splendid examples of this water vessel made within the Holy Roman  Empire during the XIII century.

 

The MET has this article devoted to the subject of metal aquamanile in general, and their own collections of those artifacts.
While this Medieval scholar presents this article on the hand washing vessel that was the most sumptuous tool to the proper table manners, be it at the castle and rich burghers' houses.

Now, I ran across this article - on  a medieval helmet  from Lucera, Italy. There is some great iconography at the end of this article, showing knights and often their horses.

and last but not least, the unusual aquamanile from the XIII century Azerbaijan to be found among the Hermitage collections, the vessel going back to the traditional Iranian-Persian ancient traditions - its history and provenience.
valete