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PERSIAN CAVALRYMAN c.1440
An extract from Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2by Ian Heath
30. PERSIAN CAVALRYMAN c.1440
This shows the final development of the laminated corselet before its disappearance, along with lamellar, during the second half of the 15th century. Reaching only to the waist, it has short sleeves (or sometimes flaps as in 26) and tassets front and back, these last first appearing in the late-14th century. Additional armour comprises a mail hood, helmet with ear-flaps, bazubands, and under his corselet a red jacket with a thick, white lining, with under that a coat-of-mail. The plate corselet is depicted gilded in the original, as are his helmet and the shield-boss, all of which doubtless denote that he is an amir of high rank. He has a blue bowcase decorated in yellow, a black scabbard with gold fittings, a long green tunic, and white boots. His kalkan shield is woven with a white, blue and brown pattern. Note that on his thumb he wears a thumb-ring, used in firing the bow; interestingly another Timurid ms. of c. 1410-20 shows characters attending a prince in his court wearing thumb-rings on both thumbs, which would tend to confirm the ability to shoot with either hand that is implicit in the lists of different shots given in surviving Mamluk archery manuals. His sword is a talwar, a type that first appeared in Persian art in 1306 and found its way into India by the 15th century.