| The "Heavenly Horse - The Horse in Chinese Art and Culture" exhibition will be held from July 16 to October 13, 2008 at the Hong Kong Museum of History, featuring 60 sets of artifacts selected from various heritage institutes in China.
Picture shows one of the exhibits, "Silver horse ornaments" from Liao dynasty (AD 916 -1125). The tomb of Princess of Chen and her consort is an important archaeological discovery relating to the Liao dynasty. Decorated with murals, the tomb surrendered more than 1,000 funerary objects made from gold, silver and jade, many of which are rare and precious artefacts representing the best archaeological finds from the Liao period. According to the inscription in the tomb, the princess was the granddaughter of Emperor Jingzong of the Liao dynasty and the daughter of Yelˆ¢ Longqing, who was the younger brother of Emperor Shengzong. She died when she was 18, and the posthumous title of Princess of Chen was conferred on her in 1018, the same year that her consort Xiao Shaoju was entombed with her. Placed in the west side chamber of the tomb were two sets of horse tack, the most complete examples of Liao dynasty Khitan horse tack that have been found to date. |
