Pommel Plate of a Saddle (from the Garniture of Rudolf II)

This plate, one of two and once part of a saddle, is from tournament armor made for man and horse made for the sons of Emperor Maximilian II, archdukes Rudolf and Ernst. Most of the remaining elements of this armor are still in the collections of the Imperial Armouries in Vienna. The decorative pattern (in the imperial colors of black and gold) forms elegant knots, with distinctive foliage and hop sprigs filling the loops.