The horse and rider are hollow modeled from light gray earthenware as one entity, the horse with a single small circular hole piercing the belly and standing foursquare with head forward. The rider is seated upright astride a large red-trimmed blue blanket flung over the horse’s back, his legs hugging the sides of the horse and his arms held forward positioned to hold reins that would have passed through the apertures in his hands. The rider’s face is modeled with a strong nose, the eyes, eyebrows and long mustache picked out in black and the lips in red, and the black hair visible at the forehead and nape, gathered beneath the cap pulled down snugly over the ears. Colorfully garbed in a brilliant-red high-length jacket both trimmed and belted in a red-dotted black fabric, a thick red-trimmed undergarment is visible at the neck and wrists, while the leggings and painted boots are less flamboyant. A black arrow quiver decorated with white pigment is strapped to the back. The black-painted steed is strong and stocky with short powerful legs and large crisply modeled hooves. Its distinctive head is quite long with a large rounded snout, the large size of the flaring nostrils emphasized by their red color. The ears are pricked high, the mane cut short, and the dressed tail projects prominently from the rump. Narrow white and blue lines represent the harness and blanket ties which dangle red and white tassels on the rump, while red circles depict the rings holding the straps. A small rectangular cartouche impressed on the left front shoulder brands the horse, likely with name of either the maker or his clan although the characters are not legible.
The features of the present horse are those of the sturdy Mongolian stock popular in China before the introduction of the stately Wusun and Ferghana horses that were the pride of the Han imperial stables from the mid 2nd century B.C. onward. The ceramic horses from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi of the 3rd century B.C., just prior to the Han, embody the features of these staid and stable horses (fig. 1), and the type continued to be employed within the boundaries of the Great Wall during the Han, serving well such cavalry as that depicted in stone (fig. 2) and ceramic (fig. 3) of the late Han period.
Robert Harrist notes that two types of horses are identifiable among the Yangjiawan tomb mounts of the second century B.C.; these differ in shape and size between a smaller, sturdy and sturdy type and a somewhat larger, more angular type, with the former perhaps of lesser quality or a crossbreed between local and imported horses.1 Prof. Harrist argues that a horse in the Dr. William Goldstein collection, which is similar to ours and differs from the two types mentioned above, might represent some local breed.2 When one adds to the actual genetic pool of Han period horses the further considerations of artistic license and the constraints of media, it is not surprising that so much variety exists in the ceramic models made for burial.
1. Robert E. Harrist, Jr., Power and Virtue: The Horse in Chinese Art, China Institute, New York, 1997, p. 54.
2. Ibid., p. 56.
Fig. 1: Earthenware horse from the tomb of the Qin Emperor Shihuang, excavated in Lintong, Shaanxi province, 3rd century B.C., after Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 10 (Early China), Tokyo, 1982, pl. 75, p. 84.
Fig. 2: Stone horse, Eastern Han dynasty, found in Hebei province, after Chugoku no Hakubutsukan, vol. 5 (Museum of History, Beijing), Tokyo, 1982, pl. 90.
Fig. 3: Earthenware horse and rider, Eastern Han dynasty, 2nd century, Musee Cernuschi, Paris, after William Watson, Art of Dynastic China, New York, 1981, fig. 318.
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