The theme that the Giovanni Züst cantonal art gallery in Rancate (Canton Ticino) faces in its usual appointment with collecting, this year is particularly suggestive.
Coming from Giannelli collection, one of the most important in the world in the sector, to be proposed is an original, extraordinary parade of "horse bits", including unique or very rare specimens from the Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, medieval and Renaissance periods, with some pieces dating back to 1 BC
The series that bring together the Italian bites and those of ancient Luristan (mountainous region of the Zagros), present in the Collection, are considered unequaled for their rarity and their beauty.
The exhibition “The Horse: 4 years of history. Giannelli Collection“ is promoted by the Pinacoteca Züst and is curated by Alessandra Brambilla and Claudio Giannelli. It can be admired in the Pinacoteca di Rancate from 6 May to 19 August.
Not just bits, spurs and stirrups, on display. The millenary human-horse interaction is also documented through paintings, engravings and old books. There is also a rare eighteenth-century rocking horse, which belonged to a scion of very noble lineage.
The subtitle of the exhibition underlines how "just" 4'000 years have seen the proud quadruped become "Equus ferme" ("harnessed horse"), or rather a horse regulated in its movements and gait through the bit.
Four thousand years may seem like a long time but they are a blink of an eye when compared to the 4 million and more years of history of the genus Equus, which gave rise to all contemporary horses, donkeys and zebras. The genome of the oldest horse that has been sequenced so far dates back to about 700 years ago. It is an Equus lambei, whose bones were found in the perennially frozen ground of the Canadian territory of the Yukon. The domestic horse (Equus caballus) appeared between 40 and 50 thousand years ago. Today there are about 400 different breeds, with specialties of all kinds, from pulling to running.
Even more recently, around 6 years ago, the nomads of the Asian steppes probably domesticated the first horses. And since then, the relationship between man and animal has become intense, even symbiotic.
The exhibition kicks off by presenting the artefacts of one of these populations, the Scythians, who moved in those territories, to continue with the exceptional bites coming from Luristan, a mountainous region of present-day northwest Iran.
We then continue with a journey through the centuries and civilizations: Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, to arrive at the Renaissance and the present day.
Until recent decades, but still today in some parts of the planet, the horse was and is the living "engine" of agricultural activities, transport and wars. For 4 years it has been the admired companion of man in sports and parades. Symbol of the prestige that in all civilizations and societies has cloaked the knight and, by reflection, his mount.
The bit, as well as a symbol of power, has often been an aesthetic means of ostentatious wealth, a key to social identification and recognition and also a ritual object.
Every civilization, every era, every land has contributed to the development of the bite. Over the centuries, blacksmiths have sometimes produced similar objects, but in many cases the artifacts thus created have also taken on very different shapes.
Craftsmen-artists, blacksmiths have accompanied the history of horse riding by producing objects that go far beyond the simple function of communication tool between the rider and his horse. Placing themselves as real masterpieces of art.
Alongside the bits, other "excellence" items from the Giannelli Collection are on display, naturally all centered around the Horse. From the first Renaissance texts by the great masters (Grisone, Pignatelli, Fiaschi, Ferraro, etc.) to the Encyclopédie, with illustrations reserved for horse riding. Along with paintings, engravings, drawings, sculptures. But also particular and rare accessories such as hippo sandals and phaleras from the Roman era, South American carved wooden stirrups, Mesopotamian bronze horse bells and much more.
All testifying to a strong passion and a boundless love for horses and a craftsmanship that knows how to become great art.
Image: Bit depicting horses, bronze, Luristan
