Prussian Black Hussars

Prussian Black Hussar charging a detachment of Hungarian Line Infantry (ca. 1745)

Now having a variety of hussar horse poses (see older post), I decided to sculpt more French trooper poses, and also to get one Prussian and one Austrian for each French pose. A challenging plan, which may take long to complete... 

For the time being, I decided  to start with converting one of my French hussars into the master of a Prussian hussar of the famous Black, or Dead’s Head, regiment.

The most striking difference between the Prussian and the French uniform is of course the headgear, the Prussian wearing a Flügelmütze, or winged felt cap, with the distinctive skull-and-bones applique, instead of the low fur busby of his  French counterpart.

French Hussar (left) and Prussian Hussar (right)

I also modified the carbine strap, and replaced the fleur-de-lys device of the French hussar’s Säbeltasche with Frederick II’s cipher (FR, for Fridericus Rex, surmounted by a small crown). Finally, I gave the Prussian's saddle-cloth a scalloped trim.

Raised in 1741, the Black Hussars were the fifth hussar regiment in the establishment of Brandenburg-Prussia (identified as HR Nr. 5). 

In later years the headgear of the Prussian hussars became slightly more elaborate with the addition of tasseled cords, but early pictorial evidence show the simpler version I choose to sculpt here. Other regiments appear to have worn no devices on the Flügelmütze, except perhaps a small disc in the regimental distinctive color. 

Conversely, while all other Prussian hussar regiments appear to have sported the King’s cipher on the Säbeltasche, early sources show the Black hussars with plain black Säbeltasche, or sometimes with the same dead’s head device as on the Flügelmütze. The sources being contradictory, I decided to sculpt Frederick’s cipher on the Säbeltasche, which can be removed if the plain version is preferred, while making for easier conversion of the figure to other Prussian regiments.

Note the skull-and-bones applique on the hussar’s winged felt cap. According to some of the earlier sources, this same device might have been found on the lower corner of the saddle-cloth, as well as on the Säbeltasche instead of the King’s cipher.