The decoration in question was part of a commission to the Pollaiuolo for pageant armor for the 7 February 1469 joust (famously won by Lorenzo de Medici and celebrated in poem by Luigi Pulci). The commissioner of the pageant armor was Benedetto d’Antonio Salutati, nephew of the famous Florentine Chancellor Coluccio Salutati, and Benedetto's father had been a director of the Roman branch of the Medici bank; in other words, he was part of the de’Medici inner circle. Benedetto wore violet livery and his first page carried a banner showing a semi-nude veiled woman holding a rayed orb with ‘leafy branches strewn about’ (laurel, in honor of Lorenzo, who was predetermined to win the joust?); his 2nd page held a gilt helmet crowned with a golden woman carrying a blue orb presumably representing the same figure (the three must have formed a standard military subunit of a 3 person lance, although they were accompanied by several other retainers; when fully "assembled" Benedetto would have been seen holding the banner with veiled woman as well as a helmet with the same woman, both holding an orb, either gold or blue - a reference to the Medici palle, inclusive of the blue one with fleur di lys?). Now for the curious detail:
That is a lot of detail to squeeze on to the caparison and harnesses of even two horses, and the matter is clouded as either the account book or Wright do not divide the subjects of the pages into two (the two pages' horses together are just differentiated from Benedetto's horse trappings). As for the motifs....Benedetto Salutati’s account book includes detailed payments for silverwork for various horse trappings and some of these can be grouped together. For example, the caparison of his horse was hung with bells and decorated with half-relief motifs of fruit, poppy heads, pine cones and quinces whereas the harness of the other two ‘corsieri’ carried gilded silver decorations in a great diversity of forms including rosettes, heads of young men and women, 10 historiated reliefs, 14 ‘figures’, 4 ‘half tondi’ and lions, as well as gilded and enameled decorations for the head piece of the page’s horse. (ibid, 55)
The 'young men and women' are simply the prey of Venus and Cupid. ‘Historiated’ usually refers to the elaborate capitalized letter one finds in manuscripts, so perhaps this was part of a motto and abbreviated as one finds on classical coins and contemporary medals (with ten words, each first letter embossed via padded stitching to show historiated in 'relief'?)? Who knows what the tondi were - typical busts emerging from circles (perhaps cupids, referring to his love of the mysterious woman on his helm?) The lions may refer to the Marzocco as well as to the Salutati coat of arms, featuring a vertical feline forearm capped by a fleur di lys (his stemma is not violet so not sure why that was the color of his livery, unless Roman imperial purple was implied, somehow making him a classical knight). Salutati's stemma from the tomb of Antonio de Salutati: Azure field with a lion's paw holding a fleur-de-lys in chief between two stars of 8 points (Santa Croce, Florence - where all jousts were held, at least the well-known ones of 1459, attended by Galeazzo Sforza, this 1469 one, and the 1475 one won by Lorenzo's brother, Giuliano, and celebrated in poem by Poliziano):
And then we are left with the 14 ‘figures’ – with no explanation. Perhaps it was like dal Ponte's cassone with the virtues, but with 7 figures on one side of the horse and 7 more on the other? Although a horse is obviously much longer than a cassone and could have shown 14 subjects on just one side and even larger (and Ponte's 7 virtues and 7 exempli are all on a single cassone face). At all events, just another tantalizing scrap of information.
Phaeded