Saddle, Germany, c. 1440-80 (mixed media)

Wood, antler, wax, leather and birch bark, hatched, carved and polished. Saddle, having a high bow or pommel terminating in a scroll, the cantle formed by two upward-curving, semi-circular plates. Constructed of wood faced with plaques of polished antler hatched and carved in low relief, with a depiction of St. George and the Dragon (the former is represented as wearing civilian dress of the mid- fifteenth century) on one side, and the Princess from the same story on the other. The background, filled with Gothic scrolls and monsters, is now black, but shows traces of red and green inlays of hard wax. On each side in the front is a hand holding a scroll issuing from clouds. There are two pairs of oblong slits for the passage of the girth and stirrup-leathers, and five pairs of round holes (on each side) for the attachment of the pad, which was pointed in place onto the underside of the saddle tree. The antler panels are missing in two areas on each side of the centre, and round most of the border where the voids had been filled with straight-grained leather. The underside, like that of A408, is lined with birch bark.