The pair of pottery male and female horse riders are vividly depicted. The man wears a heart-shaped hat, wide-sleeved green coat, and black boots. His arms are raised as if holding the rein. The woman, with a high-top knot, sits up straight on her horse. She wears a colorful, short-sleeved jacket and a pair of green trousers. The horses are depicted in lively poses. We can almost read their facial expressions. The pair is decorated in the sancai(sahn-ts-eye) literally, “three colors”; a dripping effect of three colors of glazes favored in the Tang dynasty. Typically, it refers to yellow, green, and creamy white glaze., or “three color" glazea thin, glass-like coating made of powdered rocks, minerals, ashes, and water. Applied correctly it makes a clay body impervious after firing. The colors of glaze are determined by the mineral oxides used and various aspects of the firing conditions. technique. On areas where the figures are unglazed, such as the riders’ faces and hair, details are painted directly onto the firedthe act of heating pottery in a kiln. clay.
The Tang(tahng) dynastya series of rulers from a single family. (618–907) is famous for its sancai(sahn-ts-eye) literally, “three colors”; a dripping effect of three colors of glazes favored in the Tang dynasty. Typically, it refers to yellow, green, and creamy white glaze. ceramics that prominently feature the colors white, green, and amber. The basic glazea thin, glass-like coating made of powdered rocks, minerals, ashes, and water. Applied correctly it makes a clay body impervious after firing. The colors of glaze are determined by the mineral oxides used and various aspects of the firing conditions. is transparent, slightly white, and contains a mixture of lead oxidea glaze, made of lead and oxygen chemical compounds, that is shiny and transparent after firing., silicaa hard, colorless compound which occurs as the mineral quartz and as a principal constituent of sandstone and other rocks., and alumina. It can be firedthe act of heating pottery in a kiln. at temperatures between 650 and 1000 degrees centigrade. The color green was achieved by mixing copper oxidea glaze, made of copper and oxygen chemical compounds, that produces a very wide range of colors, including greens (delicate light greens, turquoise, deep emerald green, etc.), red, pink, blue, black, yellow, and copper luster. into this base glaze, and amber/yellowish brown was achieved by mixing in iron oxidea glaze, made of iron and oxygen chemical compounds, that produces warm colors ranging from tan to dark brown.. On rare occasions, expensive cobalttype of glaze composed of cobalt oxide and other minerals that results in a blue color. oxide was added as a glaze to generate blue. The clay body of many sancai wares is creamy white (sometimes enhanced by a white clay coating called “slipclay liquefied with water for painting onto a ceramic body. Slip can come in many colors depending on what type of minerals are added to the clay.”), allowing the colored glazes to stand out vibrantly and thus making sancai ware one of the shining treasures of Chinese ceramics. Tang sancai wares are thought to have been reserved for burial use and were rarely, if ever, used in daily life.
Ancient Chinese believed in the existence of an afterlife. They made tomb figurines as replacements for real objects so that the deceased would enjoy their company or service in the afterlife. During the Tang(tahng) dynastya series of rulers from a single family., the use of sancai(sahn-ts-eye) literally, “three colors”; a dripping effect of three colors of glazes favored in the Tang dynasty. Typically, it refers to yellow, green, and creamy white glaze. wares in tombs was restricted to people of a certain status. Furthermore, the number and size of the figures were determined by the rank of the deceased. As best we know, this pair of horse riders belong to a group of sixteen equestrian figures found in a tomb in northern China. They prove the high social status of the tomb owner and provide us with an intimate peek into certain aspects of the owner’s life.
- To what social class do you think the people riding the horses belonged? What makes you think that?
- In what ways are the figures and horses realistic? In what ways are the objects simplified?
- What do these objects tell us about the person they were buried with?
- Why do you think one figure is male and the other female?
