Horse with Saddle

The reason why Qin Horse figure is so infectious is that it combines movement and stillness, infinity and finite very well. In the limited static, it gives people the impression of movement in static. The Qin pottery horse is standing on all fours and is stationary, but the mane and tail are raised and the mouth and nose are opened, giving the impression that it is ready to move and gallop across the vast frontier.

The Qin pottery horse is a masterpiece of realistic art. It is based on a real horse and is the largest pottery artwork in the history of Chinese and foreign art in terms of volume. The pottery horse has a broad chest and bulging muscles. The abdomen and back are strong, and the hips are round and heavy, seemingly able to bear a thousand pounds of force. The limbs are cut with a large knife and axe, and the front legs are like pillars and the hind legs are like bows.

The shaping of the horse’s head is silky and simple. The cheeks are scraped with a large knife to make the frontal bone prominent. The eyelids, nose and lips are finely carved with shaded lines, and the effect of light reveals high and low light and dark, with rich layers and realistic images. Even the teeth of the pottery horse, a more hidden detail, were not ignored, and quite painstakingly carved six teeth. The Qin pottery horses have six teeth, indicating that they are in their young and vigorous prime. This shows that the sculptor was familiar with life, observing it in detail, and using no trivial brushstrokes in his technique to portray the theme of the horse’s robustness and vigor. In order to express the horse’s expression, it has focused on key parts such as the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. The eyes are high, and the eyes are like hanging bells, shining. The ears are small and thick, like the front of a chopped bamboo, unusually alert. The nose is wide and square, with a long mouth cleft. This is the characteristic of a strong and durable thousand-lipped horse.

The saddle horse is the mount of a cavalryman. The figurine of the saddle horse in the picture has four upright hooves, strong and powerful. The two ears are like cut bamboo, with mane flowers in front of the ears. The tail is braided and the horses have saddle blankets on their backs. The two ends of the horse are slightly elevated and the middle is concave. The saddle surface is carved with saddle nails, and the saddle blanket is decorated with tassels and short straps around. There is a belly belt under the horse’s belly to fix the saddle blanket on the horse’s back, and there is a buckle at the head of the belt. The buckle is on the left side of the horse’s belly, and the horse’s tail can be removed. At this time, although there is a belly belt and saddle, the front side of the chest belt around the horse, the saddle horse is not equipped with stirrups, which indicates that the saddle is still in the primary stage of development.