At the Sacristy of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague there is a Syrian or Byzantine Horse Archer, c.600AD on a silk textile, probably made in Byzantium with an eastern motif.
There is a similar piece of silk at the Shrine of St. Kunibert, Erzbischöfliches Museum, Cologne, which David Nicolle says is 8th century AD Syrian. The pattern of the two pieces is not identical, but they are so similar that the 2 fragments in Prague and the piece in Cologne could have been cut from the same cloth.
A third piece of silk with a Syrian or Byzantine Horse Archer (holder unknown) has a similar pattern.
See the silks from Cologne and Prague side by side.
Does anyone have any more information or pictures of these?
MIRROR SITE
Syrian or Byzantine Horse Archers on silk, 7th-8th centuries
Druzhina345
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers