Arab, Syrian or Byzantine Horse Archer, 8th-9th Centuries, Saint-Calais

Barham Gur Shoots a Lion and an Onager with One Arrow

Image source: Etsy

Dress of Otto II. The shroud of St Calais
Byzantine silk, dated to the 8-9th century
Musée-Bibliothèque, Saint-Calais, France
BRADDOCK CLARKE - YAMANAKA KONDO Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads. 2022

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Shroud of Saint Calais : Bahrâm-Gûr's Hunt, silk produced in Constantinople, IX century, Saint-Calais, Sarthe (0,77m × 0,64 m).

Older yet, the gorgeous shroud of the church of Saint-Calais was most probably used for the translation of the saint’s remains in 837.
The shroud shows a hunting scene: on both sides of a palm tree, surrounded by deer, birds and dogs, two horsemen, dressed in an Iranian costume, with a Sassanid helmet, take aim with an arrow at an onager, that a lion holds by the throat. This motive goes back to an episode of Shah Bahrâm-Gûr’s life (420-438): the monarch managed to kill with a single arrow both an onager and the lion that attempted to devour it. This typical hunting scene, featuring a horseman, was also used in Byzantium to glorify the imperial might.
source: Fils visibles, fils lisibles