Description
Description: Chinese Tang dynasty terracotta statue of a horse. These Tang horse’ statues are representing Ferghana horses (See Note below) which did come from Fergana Valley in Central Asia, a valley spreading across what now are eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan.
The statue retains black cold painting of saddle’s harness on one side only. The reason is that the statue, because of broken legs, remained lying on one side for very long time, and half of horse’s body suffered periodical floods for many years. This is proven by the layered earth deposits that still can be seen inside the statue. The first of the three last pictures show the upper part of the inside of horse’s body, the part that has not been affected by the flooding, while it was laying on one side. Note that the “ceil of the cave” is clean. Instead, the last two pictures show the lower part of the body, with earth deposits brought inside the horse by the floods. The horizontal upper coat is actually a stratified deposit, about 2 mm thick, made by a great number of layers (visible at close inspection); it has been built up in time by the mudded waters of tomb’s floods. It is very similar to cave deposits, but in miniature. It is a mini archaeological site. This horse is preserving in his belly the record of the innumerable flooding happened during his bimillennial bury.
Dating: Tang Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220)
Size: 30.5 cm long
Provenance: Antiquarian market
References:
Notes: From Wikipedia: “Ferghana horses (Chinese: 大宛馬 / 宛馬) were one of China’s earliest major imports, originating in an area in Central Asia. These horses, as depicted in Tang dynasty tomb figures in earthenware, may “resemble the animals on the golden medal of Eucratides, King of Bactria (Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris).”
The Ferghana horse is also known as the “heavenly horse” in China or the Nisean horse in the West.
As early as the Han dynasty, China projected its military power into the Indo-Greek kingdom of Dayuan, north of Bactria, a nation centered in the Ferghana Valley of present-day Central Asia. The Han imperial regime required Ferghana horses in such great numbers that the rulers of Ferghana closed their borders to such trade, resulting in the Han–Dayuan War, which China won. In 102 AD, the Chinese required the defeated Ferghana to provide at about thirty “Superior Horses” prized for breeding and three thousand Ferghana horses of “middling or lower quality.”
Chinese statuary and paintings, as well as the Bactrian coin, indicate that these horses may have had legs that were proportionally short, powerful crests, and round barrels. The forelegs of the Chinese depictions are very straight, resembling the Guoxia horse of present-day China.
Emperor Wu of Han China (Wudi) named the horses “Heavenly Horses” (c. 113 BC) after a divination predicted their appearance. Emperor Wu sent an army of 40,000 men in 104 BC 5,000 km to Ferghana, but less than half the army reached their destination. Exhausted, they were defeated. Another army of 60,000 men was sent in 103 BC and who breached the walls of the city and cut off the water supply after a 40 day siege. Fearing imminent defeat, the inhabitants beheaded their king and presented his head to the Han general and offered the Han to take as many horses as they wanted. After installing a new puppet King, the Han left with 3,000 horses, although only 1,000 remained by the time they reached China in 101 BC. The Ferghana also agreed to send two Heavenly horses each year to the Emperor, and lucerne seed was brought back to China providing superior pasture for raising fine horses in China, to provide cavalry which could cope with the Xiongnu who threatened China.
Ferghana were popular in China for roughly the next 1,000 years until the demand shifted to larger, stronger local breeds. Nomadic breeds like Ferghana horses were fast, tough and had high endurance, but they were smaller and leaner than local breeds. The Ferghana horse is considered to be equivalent to the Nisean horse or Turkoman horse, which are both now extinct. The Akhal-Teke horse is believed to be a descendant of the original Ferghana horse.
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