Barāki (Head Armour for a Horse)

It is one of the most important surviving examples of head armour for a horse from the Islamic East. The middle of the forehead is decorated with a lion, behind which rises a radiant sun with a human face, features which clearly indicate its Persian origin. At the top of the armour appears the “tamga” (stamp) of the Ottoman arsenal, suggesting it may have been part of the plunder carried off by the Sultan Ottoman Selim I who defeated the Persians in 1514.