Collection SS2016: L'Instruction du Roy

"The King’s Instruction in the Exercise of Horse Riding" was the title given to a 17th-century work by Antoine de Pluvinel, equerry to Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre.  Pluvinel understood that when training a horse, "kindness is more effective than severity".  Under his care, the animal becomes a responsive, sentient being. 

Pluvinel founded an academy in Paris and wrote his manual (illustrated with superb etchings by Crispin de Pas) in the form of an interview with the young King.   A series of plates at the end of the volume illustrates the particular types of bit recommended for use by the author. 

Henri d’Origny’s design pairs the steel mouthpieces with braided fabric reins: the twists and curves form a pattern offset by scrolling fronds, echoing the tastes and fashions of Pluvinel’s day.

Collection FW2015: Tatersale

Four heads come face-to-face on a chequered blanket.  Carefully placed, decked in head- and neck-guards tied with bows, the horses’ heads are transformed into stylish figurines.

Named for Tattersalls – England’s most prestigious equine auction house, founded in 1766 – this carré adopts one of the many alternative spellings of the family name, which has changed down the centuries, like so many others.  The simple, precise, structured design showcases the panoply of bridlery used for the showing of horses: canvas straps, steel bits, leather harnesses.  Just part of the arsenal of the equestrian arts, transformed by Henri d’Origny into attrative, geometric compositions of decorative motifs, sometimes swirling in arabesque curves, sometimes quiet and well-behaved, neatly arranged in squares, as here.

Collection SS2015: La Promenade du Matin

At daybreak, with the mist still rising from the ground, each breath hanging on the air as a tiny cloud, the rider prepares his horse.

La Promenade du matin – the morning ride, that essential ritual – is a moment of peace and quiet.  The horse walks on, and for the next hour, mount and rider take a while to welcome the growing light, and make plans for the day ahead.  

Then it’s time to warm up, slowly but surely, first a trot, then a gallop, a ‘hunting gallop’, at a measured pace.

Henri d’Origny’s composition presents the essential bridlery for this morning outing: bridles, bits and curb chains invest the space with a pattern of circles and squares.