Taerpo horserider
The Taerpo horserider
MaterialLow-fired clay (terracotta)
Size23 cm tall[1]
Created4th-3rd century BCE
DiscoveredTaerpo cemetery, near Xianyang 34°21′41″N 108°44′36″E / 34.361309°N 108.743223°E / 34.361309; 108.743223[2]
Present locationXianyang museum
Taerpo is located in Continental Asia
Taerpo
Taerpo
Location of Taerpo cemetery (塔兒坡墓) in Xianyang, in the periphery of Xi'an city

The Taerpo horserider is Chinese Zhou dynasty period Warrior-State Qin terracotta figurine from a tomb in the Taerpo cemetery (塔兒坡墓) near Xianyang in Shaanxi Province, dated to the 4th-3rd century BCE. Another nearly-identical statuette is known, from the same tomb. Small holes in his hands suggest that he was originally holding reins in one hand, and a weapon in the other.[1]

This is the earliest known representation of a cavalryman in China.[1] Only very few such human and animal figurines are known from this time, before the creative explosion of the terracotta army in 210 BCE, which must have appeared dramatically new to contemporaries.[3]

The outfit is of Central Asian style, probably Scythian,[4] and the rider with his high-pointed nose appears to be a foreigner.[1] King Zheng of Qin (246–221 BCE) is also known to have employed steppe cavalry men in his army, as seen in his terracotta army.[5]

For the colors, only red and white are used, as most terracotta statuettes known from the Qin state period. According to Duan Qingbo, there is a possibility that these miniature human and horse shapes were inspired by the Art of the steppes, as seen in objects such as the figurines of the Saka incense burners.[6]

The Taerpo horserider is an important work of art in several respects:

Following soon after the Taerpo horserider, the Terracotta Army of the first Qin dynasty Emperor Qin Shihuang (210 BCE) would offer a profusion of realistic-looking, highly sophisticated statuary, although rather stern and militaristic in style. Less than a century later, the Yangjiawan terracotta army would then be much smaller in size, but also much less militaristic, much softer and elegant: "Horse tails curl in fanciful fashion and human figures possess a doll-like innocence".[9]

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Khayutina, Maria (Autumn 2013). "From wooden attendants to terracotta warriors" (PDF). Bernisches Historisches Museum the Newsletter. No.65: 2, Fig.4. Other noteworthy terracotta figurines were found in 1995 in a 4th-3rd century BCE tomb in the Taerpo cemetery near Xianyang in Shaanxi Province, where the last Qin capital of the same name was located from 350 to 207 BCE. These are the earliest representations of cavalrymen in China discovered up to this day. One of this pair can now be seen at the exhibition in Bern (Fig. 4). A small, ca. 23 cm tall, figurine represents a man sitting on a settled horse. He stretches out his left hand, whereas his right hand points downwards. Holes pierced through both his fists suggest that he originally held the reins of his horse in one hand and a weapon in the other. The rider wears a short jacket, trousers and boots – elements of the typical outfit of the inhabitants of the Central Asian steppes. Trousers were first introduced in the early Chinese state of Zhao during the late 4th century BCE, as the Chinese started to learn horse riding from their nomadic neighbours. The state of Qin should have adopted the nomadic clothes about the same time. But the figurine from Taerpo also has some other features that may point to its foreign identity: a hood-like headgear with a flat wide crown framing his face and a high, pointed nose. Also in Khayutina, Maria (2013). Qin: the eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors (1. Aufl ed.). Zürich: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. p. cat. no. 314. ISBN 978-3-03823-838-6.
  2. ^ "咸阳塔儿坡秦墓 发现战国晚期墓葬385座_考古_文物_墓地". www.sohu.com.
  3. ^ a b c Nickel, Lukas (October 2013). "The First Emperor and sculpture in China". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 76 (3): 416–418. doi:10.1017/S0041977X13000487. ISSN 0041-977X. From the centuries immediately preceding the Qin Dynasty again we know of only a few depictions of the human figure (...) figures of people and animals were very rare exceptions to the conventional imagery of the Zhou period (...) Depictions of the human figure were not a common part of the representational canon in China before the Qin Dynasty (...) In von Falkenhausen's words, "nothing in the archaeological record prepares one for the size, scale, and technically accomplished execution of the First Emperor's terracotta soldiers". For his contemporaries, the First Emperor's sculptures must have been something dramatically new.
  4. ^ Qingbo, Duan (January 2023). "Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis" (PDF). Journal of Chinese History. 7 (1): 26 Fig.1, 27. doi:10.1017/jch.2022.25. S2CID 251690411. In terms of formal characteristics and style of dress and adornment, the closest parallels to the Warring States-period Qin figurines are found in the Scythian culture. Wang Hui 王輝 has examined the exchanges between the cultures of the Yellow River valley and the Scythian culture of the steppe. During a 2007 exhibition on the Scythians in Berlin, there was a bronze hood on display labeled a "Kazakh military cap." This bronze hood and the clothing of the nomads in kneeling posture [also depicted in the exhibition] are very similar in form to those of the terracotta figurines from the late Warring States Qin-period tomb at the Taerpo site (see Figure 1). The style of the Scythian bronze horse figures and the saddle, bridle, and other accessories on their bodies are nearly identical to those seen on the Warring States-period Qin figurines and a similar type of artifact from the Ordos region, and they all date to the fifth to third centuries BCE.
  5. ^ a b Rawson, Jessica (April 2017). "China and the steppe: reception and resistance". Antiquity. 91 (356): 386. doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.276. S2CID 165092308. King Zheng of Qin (246–221 BC), who was to be the First Emperor (221–210 BC), took material from many regions. As he unified the territory, he employed steppe cavalry men in his army, as we now recognise from the terracotta warriors guarding his tomb (Khayutina 2013: cat. no. 314), whose dress resembles that of the steppe leaders known to the Achaemenids and Parthians (Curtis 2000: front cover), but he proclaimed his conquest in the language of the Central Plains: Chinese. The First Emperor must have had advisors who knew something of the seals, weights and measures of Central Asia and Iran (Khayutina 2013: cat. nos 115–17), and also retained craftsmen who had mastered Western technologies and cast bronze birds for his tomb in hitherto unknown life-like forms (Mei et al. 2014). He also exploited mounted horsemen and iron weaponry originally from the steppe, and agriculture and settlements of the Central Plains, turning to the extraordinary organisation of people and manufacturing from this area to create a unified state. This could only be achieved by moving towards the centre, as the Emperor indeed did.
  6. ^ Qingbo, Duan. "Persian and Greek Participation in the making of China's First Empire (Video timing: 41:00-44:00)". Video of 2018 conference at UCLA.
  7. ^ Nickel, Lukas (October 2013). "The First Emperor and sculpture in China". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 76 (3): 413–414. doi:10.1017/S0041977X13000487. ISSN 0041-977X. Sculpture as an artistic medium was widely employed in the arts of Greece and the Hellenistic East, but played only a minor role in ancient East Asia. This changed dramatically with the First Emperor of China (...) Naturalistic sculpture was entirely unknown. No long-standing sculptural tradition preceded the making of the First Emperor's famous terracotta warriors. No earlier or contemporary member of the Chinese elite had demonstrated any significant interest in sculpture at all.
  8. ^ Image from Liangdaicun Ruiguo Relics Museum (梁带村芮国遗址博物馆)
  9. ^ Chong, Alan (1 January 2011). Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy. Asian Civilisations Museum. p. 16. Excavations around Han imperial tombs have revealed rich veins of artistic production. Far smaller than the Qin warriors, the figures found at the Han tombs of Yangjiawan and Yangling (pp. 113–29) are very different in feeling. It seems as though the first Han emperors, while retaining the long tradition of burying terracotta figures for the afterlife, wished to separate themselves as much as possible from the First Emperor and his tomb. Just as the Han historian, Sima Qian, exaggerated the cruelty and excess of Shi Huangdi, so Han emperors rejected his burial customs. Many Han soldiers and horsemen are modelled into soft, charming forms. Horse tails curl in fanciful fashion and human figures possess a doll-like innocence. The overall effect of Han military terracottas is entirely different from the unsmiling militarism of the Qin tomb, especially since there are so few figures in comparison.
  10. ^ Nickel, Lukas (October 2013). "The First Emperor and sculpture in China". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 76 (3): 416–421. doi:10.1017/S0041977X13000487. ISSN 0041-977X.
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