Quian Xuan - late Song and Yuan painter

 Salvete Omnes,

a noble horse archer 

Quian Xuan (1235-1305) - was a painter and calligrapher during the Song and Yuan dynasties of China. He grew up during the conquest of Chinese states by Chingiss Khan and later creation of the Yuan, Mongol, Dynasty.  He is known by his intricate paintings of birds, landscapes, and mixing of the late Song style and ancient Tang one.   

Liao Dynasty period painting of the famous consort

Consort Yang mounting a horse while emperor is watching. - Smithsonian has a page devoted to this artwork.

Tang emperor and his eunuchs retainers

consort being helped to mount the horse . Note the dragon on the saddle's skirt

Yang Guifei was considered one of the Four Beauties of China, and subject of many paintings and artworks in the Chinese and Japanese arts. eg this Wiki Commons page.
During the An Lushan rebellion when imperial forces were all but defeated, the Tang guard soldiers surrounding the emperor forced him to order his favorite consort to commit suicide. She died in July 756 Ad, but went on to live as the object of art and poetry and novels in the Asian history etc. 

Valete

Tibetan Saddle XV-XVII centuries - MET

 Salvete Omnes,

a beautiful example of the Central Asian, Tibetan, horse equipment from the MET. 

The saddle is dated to the XV-XVII centuries, when Tibet had secular monarchies - the Rinpungpa (1435-1565) and Tsang (1566-1641). 

Dimensions: H. 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm); L. 23 3/8 in. (59.4 cm); W. 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm)

this saddle was on display during the famous exhibit - The Warrior of Himalayas - from 2006. The pillow that would cover the seat is absent/missing. 

In Polish saddlery tradition  we call this saddle type a jarczak (yarchak).

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Anton Mauve - Dutch horses and cattle of the 1800s

 Salvete Omnes,

just a short entry but with plenty of equine and bovine characters.

Anton Mauve (1838-1888) is the author of these fine paintings and wonderful drawings. 

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drawings

enjoy

Valete

Waclaw Boratynski (1908-1939) and his Potop postcards

 Salvete Omnes,

a quick post about an unusual  Polish illustrator and his artwork to illustrate the national epic , i..e., Sienkiewicz' Potop, 2nd novel in the 'Trylogia' ('The Trylogy') cycle.
Waclaw Boratynski (Pracowit z Ryglit)  was an illustrator  and painter, member of Stanislaw Szukalski's Szczep Rogate Serce (Horned Heart Band/Clan). 

Lowicz peasant- male and female-  costume from 1930s

He was mobilized in as the infantry - 18th infantry regiment -  cadet officer (podchorazy) in 1939. He was part of the Polish army defending the city of Lwow against the German invasion, was wounded and died there on Septemebr 25, 1939, his body was buried there but it is said his grave did not survive the war, as Poles were ethnically cleansed (1939-47)  and deported from the Soviet Western Ukraine to the new Polish state. Boratynski's life was cut prematurely and Polish art was deprived of his talent.

perhaps the music platoon of the 1st 'szwolezerow' regiment 

In the 1937-38 he created a series of postcards - available for download at Polona website - based on  the national epic novel 'Potop' ('The Deluge'). Kmicic, Wolodyjowski, winged hussars, Tatars, Carpathian gorale, reiters, Swedish army, Luadanska company etc in these cards

enjoy

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Pomeranian-Kashubian Yorck defeats Macdonald's cavalry - 1814

 Salvete Omnes,

several days ago there was 211th anniversary of the battle at La Chausse - Feb, 3rd 1814.
This battle took place during the 1814 defense of France conducted by Napoleon's Grande Armee corps and divisions commanded by his marshals.

In this instance Marshal Macdonald's forces, the XI Corps and II Cavalry Corps, were defending the Rhine River  line from Coblenz on the Rhine.  The French were facing huge numbers of Prussian - Army of Silesia-  and Austrian armies - Army of Bohemia - augmented by the Russian regiments and squadrons. 

General Yorck, a scion of the Pomeranian Kashubian lower nobility family of Jarka-Gostowski, commanded the Prussian 1st Corps f the Silesian Army.

Yorck as a fieldmarshal of Prussian army

the conditions for war during that winter were difficult, especially for the cavalry, with plenty of snow and cold, wind and poor & foggy visibility. 

French cavalry units at the village of la Chaussee were commanded by Dommanget (hussars, chasseur a cheval and lanciers cavalry)  and Marin Thiry  (2 cuirassier regiments), and their potions were constrained by the terrain. Also the French cavalry had poor morale and low spirit, 

while the Prussian horse, including militia horse regiment, was full of military vigor, animus and ardor. They were also disciplined and well trained as horsemen and as miltiary units. 

immobile French heavy cavalry receiving  the charging Prussians 

After the battle Yorck wrote to marshal Schwarzenberg  that the French sufffered loss of: seven guns, six caissons, one standard, several hundred men prisoners. Prussian suffered 150 causalities.  According to researchers at least 100 French were killed. 

I came across this website - where the author, Andrew Field,  goes into the details concerning this cavalry battle, with a splendid use of primary sources and military studies. 

This is the orde de bataille (Order of Battle) acording to Andrew Field's research. 

It was a minor victory of the Prussian cavalry over the French one.
All ink and watercolor plates by Richard Knotel. 

Valete