Yes Gunther, many sources show ribbons/knots in the button colour and they would usually be white as the overwhelming majority of French dragoons had tin buttons. But other regiments such as Asfeld/Hautefort or Montmain/Couterbonne had shoulder knots in the cuff colour (red for the former which also had gold buttonhole lace in 1698, green for the latter). Sources also show different ribbon colours for the same regiment : Le Roi is depicted with either red or white shoulder knots, while La Reine is shown with both blue or white ones. Ditto for Listenois which had either white or isabelle ribbons depending on which source you choose to believe.Friedrich August I. wrote:I know I am no expert like most of the others here but may it be that the 'knots' are of the Lining/Lace color?toggy wrote:Arthur, do you have any info regarding colour of these knots, were they the same as the cuffs etc.
Cheers
Bob
One of the main sources for this is Le Mercure Galant, a late C17th periodical which frequently featured descriptions of the uniforms worn by French troops of the time. And some period pics also show French dragoons without shoulders knots at all.
Unlike their colleagues from the regiments of horse, French dragoons do not seem to have worn shoulder knots in the tinctures of their colonels' livery, though (if that did happen, it doesnt look that the practise was recorded).
So far, I've been using the words 'ribbons' and 'shoulder knots' pretty indiscriminately, but there actually was a slow evolution. Men wore bunches of ribbons on one or both shoulders in the 1660's and 1670's, and the ribbons gradually gave way to shoulder cords which ultimately took the shape of the aiguillette later worn by most cavalry troopers after 1715.