19th C. Colonial Wood & Brass Box Stirrups - Pair of Tapaderos

Western Europe, Portugal / Spain. A pair of box stirrups, each made from panels of hardwood into a shoe-shaped shell with a hooded front that encloses the rider's foot. Flat brass panels cover the toe of each stirrup and are secured with round-headed rivets along the edges. An iron band wraps the body of each stirrup and rises into a shaped, crested suspension loop for attachment to the saddle leathers. Closed stirrups of this type, known as tapaderos in the Iberian tradition, protected the foot from brush, stone, and weather on long rides, and their metal facings signaled the standing of the horseman. The hooded stirrup is an Iberian signature. Developed in Spain and Portugal for riding in brush and broken terrain, it travelled with the colonial saddle to the Americas, where the Spanish word tapadero (from tapar, "to cover") attached itself permanently to the form and survives in the leather hoods of the vaquero and later the American cowboy. Portuguese examples of the type, worked in wood and sheathed in brass or iron, belong to the same equestrian culture that produced the Alter Real horse and the ceremonial riding of the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, where weight, ornament, and the protected foot were marks of a working gentleman rider. Item # 204465

Estimate:$750

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