Russian Boyar Cavalry of the mid/late 17th century?

[PBR Streetgang]

I'm painting up a Russian army for the mid/late 17th century and am unsure how to paint them. I've read from various books that both boyars and "western" style cavalry had to equip themselves so I would assume no real uniform however Osprey's book on Peter The Great's cavalry shows some metropolitan Moscow boyars in a grey/raspberry uniform as seen below. Is there anything to indicate some would be some in uniform? Thanks!

[Father Primus]

Probably moscow dvorian regiments were obliged to dress in a similar colors for some parade or ambassador meeting but otherwise boyar cavalry had no uniform colors and were dressed according to their preferences and wealth.

[jcspqr]

For what it’s worth, I painted the Jilsti in “uniform” colours.  Dvor/Boyars are in a mix of non-uniform colours.  I was planning to do the muscovite reiters in semi-uniform colours to make them stand out.

[PBR Streetgang]

Pardon my ignorance but who are the "Jilsti"? I plan to do my reiters in similar scheme as you, in a combination of green and tan or green and grey. Thanks for your response!

For what it’s worth, I painted the Jilsti in “uniform” colours.  Dvor/Boyars are in a mix of non-uniform colours.  I was planning to do the muscovite reiters in semi-uniform colours to make them stand out.

[jcspqr]

Guard cavalry.  I have seen various spellings.  Sometimes portrayed winged.  Take a look at the TAG Muscovite range.

[cuprum]

"Boyars" are a noble militia. In essence, this is a medieval knightly cavalry according to the principles of recruitment. All that was prescribed to them was a set of weapons with which they had to go out into the royal service. They chose their costume according to their own taste. But there were some traditions. The predominant colors in outerwear (in order of popularity) were red, blue, green. Much less common were the colors purple, light blue, pink, white. Accordingly, they were mainly worn by the most noble and wealthy warriors.
Leather boots were most often red and yellow, rarely green, light blue, azure, white, flesh-colored, often they were embroidered with gold.
Sashes were made of multi-colored silk, often with an admixture of gold and silver.

In principle, this color scheme is characteristic of all Russian irregular troops, where there was no centralized issue of fabrics for sewing clothes. The Streltsy, the elective regiments (select soldiers gathered into select units), the Tsar's court (guards - but they participated in campaigns only when the Tsar himself was present in the army), as well as the regiments of the "foreign system" (i.e. formed according to the model of European troops) had a uniform "uniform".

It is difficult for me to judge who is depicted in your illustration in grey caftans. Perhaps there is an annotation to this illustration?

[cuprum]

jcspqr, you are talking about the contingent of the personal royal guard, which was called "Zhiltsy" - this is how the "select" best noblemen were called in the Moscow state, who were sent in turn from all the cities of Russia for three years to Moscow, the Tsar and to carry out some court services. They enjoyed one very important right - to be included at the end of the assignment in the "Moscow list", which opened the way for them to further court and Duma ranks. This elite regiment never participated in battle as a military unit.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/??????_(???)

But for some time in the Russian army there existed a regiment of "winged hussars" of Colonel Rylsky, created from former Polish hussars (mostly Orthodox) and entirely according to the Polish model, who went into Russian service together with the territories of Belarus (Lithuanian Principality), which went to Russia. This military unit took part in the Smolensk campaign of 1654.

[cuprum]

I found the source of this illustration. I am inclined to think that this image is erroneous. The riders in grey uniforms cannot be classified as noble militia. They are most similar in appearance to the first Russian dragoon regiments...

[PBR Streetgang]

Thank you all for the insight, glad to see Cuprum chime in as well. I'm not entirely sure why but I used soft reds, greens and blues for my first unit of Boyars. The next one will be in more appropriate and irregular color schemes.

I'm doing this all with 6mm Baccus miniatures so I have to use some proxies (Cossacks to be precise) as proxies for my Boyars.

[clibinarium]

I found the source of this illustration. I am inclined to think that this image is erroneous. The riders in grey uniforms cannot be classified as noble militia. They are most similar in appearance to the first Russian dragoon regiments...

Its from the Osprey on Peter the Great's cavalry? It, along with the infantry book, is not particularily accurate. Most of its depictions of "Western" style uniforms are based on Aleksandr Viskovatov's illustrations, which may depict the army after the GNW? Not considered accurate now, but it was published maybe 30 years ago. Before more Russian material made its way west through the internet. Though I wouldn't use them for reference now, I still like the illustrations.

Side note- maybe the Pertrine era illustrations of Vikovatov aren't quite correct, but he's still well regarded in terms of Napopleonic era uniforms, right? I see volumes of Napoleonic stuff for sale in modern editions.

[cuprum]

Viskovatov's books were written in the mid-19th century. Naturally, the information contained in them has huge inaccuracies, especially in the part that pertains to the era up to Peter the Great. The remaining eras were described based on official documents, but various "local" changes, edits and initiatives were overlooked. There could be quite a large number of such deviations and they could significantly change the appearance of the troops.

[PBR Streetgang]

Cuprum et al, how prevalent do you think were the bow, lance and armor for boyars by the mid-17th century? Specifically in regards to the conflicts with Sweden and Poland?

[cuprum]

The bow was still quite common among the noble cavalry. Possession of a bow was even a kind of symbol of noble origin, since only a warrior with good individual training, who had been trained in this art since childhood, could master this weapon at a high level. In addition, it was a more effective weapon than firearms, in skilled hands (rate of fire and shooting accuracy). But gradually this skill came to naught following the development of firearms and a change in tactics.
Russian noble cavalry could actively use armor, but against their eastern opponents, since they widely used bows in battle. During the war in the western theater of military operations, armor was used much less often.
The main method of combat of the noble cavalry at that time was long-range combat. That is, shooting at the enemy with bows and pistols. Russian noble horsemen used an eastern-type saddle, from which it was impossible to deliver a classic "knightly" blow with a spear. The rider would simply fall out of the saddle. Spears were used, although not often. Their manner of use was similar to that of the light spear cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars, I would say it was a spear "for fencing". However, in the Belgorod "category" (in modern terms, this is a district), "spear regiments" were created. These were mixed regiments, half of the companies of which consisted of reiters, and the other half - of spearmen. Spearmen are actually an analogue of Polish hussars, but with slightly lighter armor. A kind of hussars for the poor)))


Belgorod spearman.

An interesting detail. Service in the spearmen was prestigious. These companies were staffed by horsemen from the noble militia. They were never commanded by foreign officers. The spearmen received armor from the state, and they were also allocated caftans from the treasury. Caftans were required to be of different colors. There is a document on the issuance of lemon and scarlet caftans to one of the regiments. Uniformity in the colors of caftans in the ranks was considered a decrease in noble status... Nobles had to be different from each other)))
The armor was painted black (like that of the reiters).

[Father Primus]

Cuprum et al, how prevalent do you think were the bow, lance and armor for boyars by the mid-17th century? Specifically in regards to the conflicts with Sweden and Poland?

As we know from armament documents, mostly boyar cavalry was armed with firearms - there were some regions where boyars were still skilled with bow, especially on the southern borders or where a lot of christianised tartars lived, but in the 1640-1650 bow was already considered as an inferior weapon, compared to pistols and carbines. Polish-lithuanian documents show the same picture but in Poland and Lithuania there were much more skilled bowmen who still successfully used bows.

As Cuprum said, lance was almost non-used by moscovite cavalry, except for lancers squadrons or some unique chosen units like jiltsy or hussars. Though documents of the age don't tell much about its successful usage.

Armor was almost non-existent, because 99% of all boyars in boyar cavalry were poor as a church mouse. Only rich moscow dvorians or some lucky provincial guys had some some form of torso and head armor. But we know that in the middle of 17th century tsar ordered to take armors and helmets from monasteries and local armories to equip boyars. So probably there was a period when cavalry was "up-armored" according to tsar's order. Also it is known that armor was often lost in retreats and after losing a battle - Polish-Lithuanian chronicles as well as moscovite reports often highlight this fact.