Bit Boss with Hercules and Diomedes

The central part of this bit boss depicts Hercules with the carnivorous mares of Diomedes in a landscape suggested by trees and a castle on the right. This scene is copied from an original composition found on a circular plaquette by Moderno (Galeazzo Mondella) dated 1508 showing the Death of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. Hercules and a fifth horse were added to Moderno’s scene, which shows four horses and Hippolytus at the bottom falling from his chariot, to transform it into Hercules and Diomedes (Hippolytus being reinterpreted as Diomedes killed by his own horses).

German bronze founders would regularly use Italian medals or plaquettes as models for their works, including bosses, like this one, which decorated the sides of horse bits. They also produced similar decorative elements for powder flasks, staff weapons or even pistols. This scene seems to have been a common design for bit bosses and plaquettes made in Southern Germany in the second half of the 16th century (see also 42.50.162).