The mounted archer (horsearcher) is a classic motif on medieval silks. The figure of it is probably coming from the Sassanian depiction of King Bahram V, (a.k.a. Bahram Gur) who was a famous hunter, and he was often depicted as hunting from his mount. We find these horsearcher patterned hunting scenes on various silks made by all the great silk producing regions of Eurasia during the Early and the High Medieval period.
Mounted Amazons hunting leopards
Dated to the 6th century, Akhmim, Egypt
From the shroud of St Fridolin who was buried in his abbey in Säckingen in the late 6th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
BRADDOCK CLARKE - YAMANAKA KONDO 2022:239
Roundels with amazons from a tunic
From Egypt or Syria, dated to the 7-9th century
Cleveland Museum of Arts, Cleveland, USA
MACKIE 2015:49
Horsmen hunting with bows
Only one half survived, the other half is a reconstruction
Dated to the 7th century, probably Syrian origin
Church treasure of St Servatius, Maastricht, Netherlands
VOLBACH 1969:FIG 47
Beaded medallions enclosing four mounted lion hunters
Second half of 7th century
Likely Chinese, possibly Central Asian product
MATSUMOTO 1984:FIG 38
Horsearcher patterned silk from the middle of the 8th century
Likely made in Japan, by trying to copy a Chinese original
MATSUMOTO 1984:FIG 45
Mounted archers hunting lions(?)
Japan
Second half of 8th century
MATSUMOTO 1984:FIG 46
As Owen-Crocker writes: "Originally a Chinese monopoly, silk weaving was taken up by Sassanian Persia, Christian Byzantium and the Arab world, different cultures copying, adapting and redeploying motifs from one another. Thus hunting scenes, originating in the tradition of Sassanian culture (AD 224 to 651), became useful motifs in Byzantine art of the ninth and tenth centuries when religious images were banned under the periods of iconoclasm in the Christian Church."
Binding of a gospel book with horsearcher silk cover from Prague, Czech Republic
Byzantine silk from the end of 8th, beginning of 9th century
BŘEZINOVÁ 2020: FIG 238
Dress of Otto II. The shroud of St Calais
Byzantine silk, dated to the 8-9th century
Musée-Bibliothèque, Saint-Calais, France
BRADDOCK CLARKE - YAMANAKA KONDO 2022:176
Dress with a pattern depicting mounted hunters
Byzantine silk, dated to the 9th century
St. Kunibert (Basilika minor), Cologne, Germany
BRADDOCK CLARKE - YAMANAKA KONDO 2022:189
Horsearcher silk used to cover the inner faces of doors of the gold altar of Sant' Abrogio
8-9th century, Sant' Ambrogio, Milan, Italy
VOLBACH 1969:FIG 46
A mounted hunter silk pattern reconstruction
The original pieces were parts of a kaftan's sleeve
Dated to the 8th century, Moshchevaja Balka, Russia
IERUSALIMSKAYA 1996:239, IERUSALIMSKAYA 2012: FIG 57
Reconstructed pattern of the silk part of a woman apron from a Scandinavian type grave from Pskov, Russia
The burial is dated to the second half of 10th - early 11th century
ZUBKOVA - ORFINSAKYA - MIKHALOV 2009: FIG 49.8
Sources:
Braddock Clarke, Sarah E. - Yamanaka Kondo, Ryoko: Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads. Journeys Between East and West, Past and Present, 2022
Březinová, Helena: Magic of Silk: Byzantine Silk Fabrics. in: Great Moravian Elites From Mikulčice, Brno 2020
Ierusalimskaya, Anna A.: Die Graber der Moscevaja Balka, München 1996
Ierusalimskaya, Anna A.: Мощевая Балка. Необычный археологический памятник на Северокавказском шёлковом пути, Saint Petersburg 2012
Mackie, Louise W.: Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th–21st Century, New Haven, London 2015
Matsumoto, Kaneo: Jodai-Gire. 7th and 8th Century Textiles in Japan from the Shoso-in and Horyu-ji, Kyoto 1984
Owen-Crocker, Gale R.: Textiles in Christian Tombs. in: Life and cult of Cnut the Holy, Odense 2019
Volbach, W. Fritz: Early Decorative Textiles, London 1969
Zubkova, Elena S. - Orfinskaya, Olga V. - Mikhailov, Kirill A.: Studies of the Textiles from the 2006 Excavation in Pskov. in: North European Symposium for Archeological Textiles X, Oxford 2010
