This page provides images of a form of litter (which we sometimes call a “palanquin” or “sedan chair”) generally used as a form of luxury transportation. Unlike a wagons or carriages, these have no wheels. In most cases, this type of litter is borne by a horse at the back and a horse at the front. They sometimes appear with rich textiles and soft cushions.

I have divided up litters by their functions and usages in each illustration, so that they are easier to compare within similar contexts. Those used to carry goods are on the handbarrows linkspage, and those that are used to transport the incapacitated, wounded, ill, elderly, dying, or dead can be found with the biers & stretchers.

• Abgar V pulls the Holy Face from the well, Apocryphe: Legenda Abgari Regis Edessae (BNF Latin 2688, fol. 82), fourth quarter of the 13th century
• The lady's homeward journey, Le duc des vrais amans (BNF Fr. 836, fol. 74v), 1403
• 'Sabic Pompee' (Poppaea Sabina), wife of Nero, in a horse-litter, De mulieribus claris (British Library Royal 20 C V, fol. 144v), first quarter of the 15th century
• Kublai traveling (fol. 41) and the Khan traveling (fol. 204), Travels of Marco Polo (BNF Fr. 2810), c. 1410-1412
• A lady seated in a litter borne by two white horses, Le Duc des vrais amants (British Library Harley 4431, fol. 153), c. 1410-1414
• Poppaea Sabina, wife of Nero, in a horse litter, De mulieribus claris (British Library Royal 16 G V, fol. 111), c. 1440
• Charles IV enters Saint-Denis, Grandes Chroniques de France (BNF Fr. 6465, fol. 442), c. 1455-1460
• Triumph, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 42, fol. 58), mid-15th century
• Isabeau of Bavaria enters Paris, Chroniques (BNF Fr. 2646, fol. 6r), c. 1470-1475
• Capture of Limoges, Chroniques d’Angleterre (BNF Fr. 77, fol. 371), c. 1475
• Isabella arrives at Paris in a litter carried by two white horses, Chroniques (Brit. Lib. Royal 18 E II, fol. 7r), c. 1480
• Onorato Gaetani, Count of Fondi, seated on chair on litter carried by horse with rider at front and another at back, Cronaca della Napoli Aragonese (PML M.801, fol. 92v), c. 1498-1503
• The punishment of rebellious children and parents, Triomphe des Vertus (BNF Fr. 144, fol. 39v), first quarter of the 16th century
• Emperor Aurelian carried on a litter at the capture of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, on a dish made in Pesaro in 1552
• A horse-drawn litter carries a lady in a mask, Discours à Lesdiguières (British Library Harley 5256, fol. 5256), 1597

The Pope has a special litter known as the seda gestatoria, or gestatorial chair.

• A procession up the steps to Old St. Peter’s, Farnese hours (PML M.69, fol. 72v), 1546
• Pope Innocent IX, 1591?
• A papal procession to Ferrara after the annexation by Pope Clement VII, c. 1600
• The procession of Pope Innocent X ot the church of St. John Lateran, 1644