Six pottery equestrians

A group of six red pottery equestrians; the naturalistically modelled horses stand foursquare on a rectangular plinth with their heads turned slightly to the left. Their expressions are alert with flared nostrils and pricked ears.

On five of the horses, the mane and tail are neatly docked.  On the sixth, the mane is combed down one side of the arched neck and the head is bowed down.  The six riders, five male and one female, sit on saddles with blankets underneath.  They are of different ethnicity; three are Chinese, three are foreign.  The first rider has Chinese features and wears a long-sleeved, three-quarter-length coat and a bolero-style jacket over tightly fitting trousers and pointed boots.  His right hand is raised as if gripping reins.  The head is crowned by a peaked headdress, over which a veil is draped with a long train down to the waist.  Attached to his belt is a small pouch. Two riders, both dressed in loosely fitting, long-sleeved robes and pointed boots, appear to be of the same non-Chinese ethnic origin.  Their faces have high cheekbones, broad noses and pronounced eyebrows.  Both hold their right hand up as if clenching reins.  Their left arms hang down the side of the body with the sleeve covering the hand. Their hair is drawn up into a tight bun and covered by a thin cloth.  The fourth rider has Chinese features and is dressed similarly to the first, but with shoes that have turned-up toes.  Both his hands are exposed and held before him.  A cloth covers his hair, which is drawn up in a single bun that flops forward.

The fifth horseman’s full beard, moustache and heavy eyebrows are prominent features of his powerfully modelled face, as is his sharply hooked nose.  His cloth-covered hair is drawn up in a single bun.  He wears a three-quarter-length coat over trousers and pointed boots.  A small pouch is suspended from his belt and with his left hand he clutches a phoenix-headed ewer.  The female equestrian wears a long-sleeved jacket, covering both her hands, over a high-waisted robe.  A trailing scarf covers her shoulders.  Pointed shoes peep out from underneath the hem of her robe.  Her face has plump features with a rather haughty expression and she sports an elaborate hairdo.  The red pottery from which all equestrians are made is covered in a thin layer of white slip, on which extensive traces of bright pigment are visible.

•  This group of equestrians depicts what must have been a typical sight during the Tang dynasty: a caravan of merchants and traders of different nationalities, both male and female, travelling along one of the Silk routes, most probably one leading to or from the bustling Tang capital Chang’an (modern-day Xian).  The mix of Chinese and foreign riders provides a remarkable insight into the multi-cultural society China represented at this period and also bears witness to the keen eye and fascination with which its artists observed life around them.   The two riders whose faces have high cheekbones and broad noses are of a type been identified by Schloss as Turco-Mongolian.1  The figure holding the ewer most probably represents a man of Central Asian extraction, possibly a Sogdian.2   The form of the ewer itself is derived from Sassanian silver and is a good example of the kind of exotic luxury item brought to China by foreign traders.3   A full-size pottery phoenix-headed ewer of this type is in the Idemitsu Museum in Japan (fig. 1).  It is generally accepted that the peak of Chinese ceramic tomb sculpture was reached during the first half of the Tang dynasty. Even so, exceptional care was lavished on the production of these equestrians, seen particularly in the naturalistic rendering of the horses’ musculature and the careful modelling of the riders with their minutely observed and painstakingly detailed clothing and faces.  A group of five painted pottery musicians mounted on horseback in the Xi’an Municipal Institute of Archaeology displays similarities in dress with strong influences from Central Asia.4   Modelling of such high quality can be seen on a male and a female equestrian figure in the collection of Anthony M. Solomon.5

1. Schloss, E. Foreigners in Ancient Chinese Art from Private and Museum Collection, China House Gallery, The China Institute in America, New York, 1969, nos. 55 and 56
2. Michaelson, C. Gilded Dragons, Buried Treasures from China’s Golden Age, British Museum Press, London, 1999, no. 47, pp. 87-88.
3. Schloss, E. op. cit. nos. 59 and 60
4. Yang, Xiaoneng The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology – Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1999, 171, pp. 494-7
5. Bower, V. and Mowry R. D. (ed.) From Court to Caravan, Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Collection of Anthony M. Solomon, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 2002, no. 39, pp. 120-1