Illustrations interpeting Old Polish-themed XVII century prints

 Salvete Omnes,

a little bit of Stefano della Bella and Certamen equestre art - or rather some attempts by the XIX century illustrators to interpret the Italian and German period masters.

chronologically, Stefano Della Bella was the author who observed Polish riders in Rome, Italy (1630s), and later in France (1640s).

The XIX century illustrator working from Stefano's prints created these two illustrations.

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The famous Certamen Equestre prints by Ehrenstrahl document the splendorous  horse show at the Swedish court in 1670s. One of the historic people portrayed in these prints is a Polish condottiere Zachariasz Gamocki (there are two fine articles by Stockholm & Uppsala Universities researcher  Elzbieta Swiecicka on the Gamckis family - husband and his  wife Eva Richard de la Chapelle). 
Gamocki was in the service of Swedish crown, used as messenger and translator/inteprter due to his knowledge & command of various languages including Turkish & Crimean Tatar - but there was also an ambiguity and perhaps scandal about that during the Crimean Tatar embassy of Alsna Aga to Sweden  in 1671- , but in the Certamen prints he was shown among the Polish fraction of horsemen, horses  and retainers.

Below the interpretation of the figure of this Swedish courtier by the XIX century illustrator 

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all images from Polona, Polish Republic-EU national library

Valete

David Klocker Ehrenstrahl - more horse and some royal riders

a golden horse of Karl XI

 Salvete Omnes,

a fine bay steed, king in a gilded cuirass

just for your viewing pleasure - some more horses from the brushes of David Klocker Ehrenstrahl, court painter at the Swedish royal court of the XVII century. 

splendid gray 

Karl XI in a buff coat 

bay Sultan

Visir 

a ruler of Holstein - Fredrich IV

Valete

Cavalarice Or the English horseman by Markham

 Salvete Omnes,

Cavalarice - Gervase Markham's opus on horse breeding from 1616AD - in the first book there is a chapter on various stallions suitable for breeding a good English horse  - one of horse 'breeds' master Gervase  listed and described was our good Polish horse of the Old Polish period (prior to 1815AD ) . Equus Polonus in his splendor

 

Valete

Old Polish saddle - Certamen equestre

Salve,
 some time (here and here) ago I talked a little bit about and posted several images form Certamen Equestre, king Charles XI splendid horse & rider carnival of 1672. Georg C. Eimmart was he author of the prints of horses and riders taking part in this festival.
From the 70 or so plates  I selected detailed images of Polish saddles ('siodło'), from the plates showing the Polish 'delegation,'  as shown by the artist.

These are parade saddles from Poland, either war booty or gifts form Polish monarchs or magnates.

 Below a short introduction into Polish terminology for these saddles and their parts.
'Łęk' was the name used both for a front (pommel) and a rear (cantle) of the saddle already in XVI century, yet already during 1500s there was a name used (in Latin text) spelled 'ląck' that could have represented 'a saddle tree covered in   leather'(speculated Zygulski jr in his article on saddles) and   by XVIII century  it was a distinctive saddle type, eg terminology given by  the XVIII century former Bar Confederacy soldier, priest and writer Kitowicz*.
Presently we have been using a name 'terlica' for a saddle tree, but in XVIII century it was also a type of saddle used in Poland.
 Name 'kulbaka,' from Turkish, seems not to have existed in XVI century as a name for a distinctive  horse saddle, and became popular in XVIII century. It is still used as a name for a military/cowboy style saddle.
'Rząd' or 'rządzik' was the name used for the whole assembly of horse furniture, i.e., the saddle, breastplate, bridle (bit, reins, bridle), stirrups, cinch and crouper.   Presently in Polish horse terminology  word 'rząd'  means all the above with the exception of the saddle, stirrups and cinch.
Here, along with the splendid reconstructions of Duchy o Warsaw uhlans,  you can have a very detailed description of the Polish horse terminology for a cavalry bridle of the Napoleonic period drawn by my friend Zuzu.

These details show Old Polish saddles - mostly of the jarczak  type (siodło kozackie) and several of husaria type (siodło ussarskie)  etc.
Royal city of Lwów (now Lviv) was the centre of more elaborate saddle making in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but we also have documents surviving for the cities of Kraków and Poznań, where saddle-makers guilds were prominent.

enjoy

* from Kitowicz:
 łęk, terlica, jarczak i turecka kulbaka, co wszystko podpadało pod imię powszechne "kulbaki". Łęk był o dwu kulach równych, z przodu i z tylu w góro podniesionych, między które kule siadał jeździec na poduszkę skórzaną, sierścią bydlęcą wypchaną, rzemieniem pod brzuch konia przechodzącym przywiązaną. Terlica była o jednej kuli, z przodu w górę wydanej, i o ławce okrągłej, z tylu na ćwierć łokcia szerokiej, z poduszką w środku takąż jak i łęk. Jarczak była terlica albo lęk gładki, skórą obklejony, bez poduszki, na którym jarczaku chłopcy, ciurowie i towarzystwo rękodajni do twardego siedzenia na koniu bywali przyuczani; turecka kulbaka była podobna do terlicy z tą tylko różnicą, iż przednia kula była wyższa i ostrzejsza, a zadnia lawa szersza; miasto zaś poduszki cały wierszch kulbaki miękko wnusiem końskim wysłany i suknem powleczony; i takiego najwięcej siądzenia husarze do potrzeby zażywali.