The Funerary Sculpture of a Horse is located in the Chinese art galleries at the Los Angeles Country Museum. The sculpture is a typical art object of Sancai in middle Tang Dynasty between 700 CE and 800 . It is made by “molded earthenware with molded, applied, and incised decoration and polychrome glaze.”1 The sculpture depicts a standing horse with a earthenware base. It is about two feet high. The horse is very strong and full, and it has a thick neck and a round, big body, which fulfills the Tang taste. Its four legs look muscular. The whole body of the horse is covered with lead-based and bright glazes. Usually, people call it Sancai, which means a polychrome handicraft with white, green and yellow as its major tones. There is saddle on its back, and some green ornaments are caved around its head and body. The sculpture represents the highest achievement of art forms of that period; moreover, it reflects cultural background. In the first place, the horse figure represents wealth. In ancient China, horses are luxury goods that can only be afforded by people in upper class. Usually, aristocrats and rich people use horses not only as a faster transportation but also as a symbol of their enormous wealth. Its delicate appearance, bright colors and sophisticate ornament perfectly convey desire of wealth. In addition, in Chinese culture, horses stand for military power. People would like to show off their military power by purchasing such figures. Its muscular shape, thick and organized horsehair and intimidating facial expression let people feel strength, solemn and power. The Funerary Sculpture of a Horse reflects wealth and militar power as will be shown using evidence from my observation and understanding.
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The Funerary Sculpture of a Horse serves the purpose of representing wealth. Polychrome glaze all over its body leaves people an impression of luxury and brightness.
The Museum’s Wall Labels.
Sancai mainly consists of three colors: yellow, brown and green. The figure is covered by brown glaze on most parts of its body. Instead of overusing brown glaze, craftsmen leaves the lower parts of its four legs unglazed, which makes the figure more natural and realistic. This technique causes high realisticity that leads to high value of the figure, and so the rich are willing to own the sculpture to show off their wealth. When people stand away to observe the figure, they can find that the overall color tends to be red instead of purely brown. The reddish brown color reminds people of the blood horse with dignity that emperors and wealthy people love and pursue. Yellow glaze mainly covers the saddle over the horse’s back. Yellow in Chinese tradition is always considered a royal and auspicious expression, and it is always associated with wealth. It is easy to find that Chinese imperial robe is usually yellow, which also emphasizes its importance. Therefore, yellow saddle shows riders’ status and wealth because of its brightness, attractiveness and cultural symbolism. Green glaze is mostly used on ornament around its body and head. The ornament is sophisticated and well designed.
Many ancient painters use green color in their works to describe paradise and mystical areas because green color stands for something untouchable and mysterious. The green ornament means that the figure is not accessible to common people, but only a minority of wealthy people can approach it. Other than polychrome glaze, ornament itself represents people’s desire of wealth. Every piece of the ornament is like a coin, which consists of a round circle with a hollow part in the center. Similar to Money Tree figure that ancient people made to pray for wealth and splendid, the coin-like ornament on the horse’s body shows people’s desire of wealth and money itself. The headstall is well designed and sophisticated. There are motifs like flowers on it. Delicate headstall and ornament tell people that it is not an ordinary horse for everyday use; conversely, people purchase the horse figure aiming at showing their wealth.
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In Chinese history and culture, horses are always connected with military power. As one of the most important tools in warfare, horses play a crucial role in providing support to armies in the field throughout history. The Funerary Sculpture of a Horse also serves the purpose of showing off military power. The horse stays in good physical shape. It has big and strong muscle on its four legs, which means that horse is excel at running and implies its excellent performance on the battle. In contrast with the horse image in the painting Night Shinning White that is full and big, the horse figure here is more muscular. Because Night Shinning White is the favorite horse of the emperor, it is fed and treated well. However, in the sculpture, the horse is mainly used for military purpose; thus, it apparently has more physical advantage. Its neck is so strong and long that does not match the rest of the body, which gives people a clue of strength and solemn as well. More than its muscular shape, horsehair on its neck also reminds people of fighting spirit. The horsehair is coarse and thick that is like manes on a general’s helmet. In ancient China and Roman, high ranking generals prefer to wear helmet with manes to express its power, bravery and high status in the army.
Craftsmen here purposely imitate the manes on helmet with the hope that the figure has military characteristics. Usually, horsehair should hang down, but the it grows straightly upward on the neck. The unique horsehair makes the horse look solemn. Therefore, the horsehair leaves people an impression of military power. In addition, in contrast with the quiet body language, the facial expression of the horse sculpture plays an important role in showing passion and military power. Its bulging eyeballs and widely open nostrils let people feel anger from the horse when it is staring at enemies. Especially, when it opens the wide mouth and shows its teeth, the horse seems to frighten enemies by behaving in a threatening way. The intimidating facial expression demonstrates the military power that people pursue on the battle and in the army.
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To conclude, the Funerary Sculpture of a Horse reflects wealth because of the polychrome glaze and ornament. Brown glaze makes the figure more realistic, which leads to higher value. Yellow glaze brings about brightness and attractiveness, and it carries cultural symbolism that ancient wealthy Chinese desire. Wealthy people can approach figure more easily because of green glaze. The ornament implies that horse is only used by the rich. In addition, the sculpture represents military power. Its muscular shape, unique horsehair and intimidating facial expression let people grasp fighting spirit that ancient Chinese pursue.
In a word, the The Funerary Sculpture of a Horse reflects many aspects of Chinese culture.
