Cavalry Battle and River Crossing with Armored Horsemen, Montfaucon, 1722

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, a double page folding plate from Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures, printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. Three numbered scenes show fighting on horseback and in water. In the wide upper scene horsemen in tunics and cloaks ride to the right among rocks, while at the right bearded men in caps and cloaks with ornate oval shields raise their hands, some of them fallen on the ground, with a tree at the right edge and a dragon standard flying in the sky above them. In the lower left scene capped, bearded men with shields stand by a brick wall, and beyond them men and horses struggle in a river, swimming and going under, with a rider in the water and shields floating. In the lower right scene riders in helmets and tunics with oval shields meet horsemen whose bodies and horses are covered in scale armor, one drawing a bow, with a fallen armored man below.

This sheet carries no source captions. The figures are numbered 1 to 3. The corners are lettered "Page 69" at top right, "Voll IV" at foot left and "Plate 22" at foot right.

Bernard de Montfaucon (1655 to 1741) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar. His L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures appeared in Paris in 1719, and this English translation by David Humphreys, Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures, was printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. Volume four deals with war, and this plate belongs to its sequence on battle. Montfaucon drew together figures copied from ancient monuments and the publications of earlier antiquaries, and where he named a source he engraved it beside the figure.

The horses and the scale armored riders make it a vivid choice for a long wall.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.