| 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, "Terracotta figures of rider and saddled horse" from Qin dynasty (221- 206 BC).
The people of Qin applied strict standards when selecting warhorses, which had to be hefty of build, with big heads, short limbs and large, long ears. This terracotta horse was equipped with a real bridle, cheek bars and reins.
The terracotta rider is wearing a double-front, cross-collared tunic with the left flap over the right and a short armoured vest over the tunic, as well as tightly fastened trousers and short boots. This clothing would have made mounting easier and afforded him greater freedom of movement to control his horse and fight his enemies on the battlefield at the same time.
Around 632 terracotta horses have been unearthed from the burial pits in the mausoleum of Qinshihuang, most of them chariot horses. This number constitutes only about nine percent of the 7,000 terracotta figures found. A total of 116 riders each leading a saddled horse by the reins were unearthed Lined up in sets of four, they stand on the left flank of the troops. It is believed that they were the horsemen that, in co-ordination with the brigade of war chariots, would launch surprise attacks on the enemy. |
