This outstanding horseman dates from the Sui period, which is stylistically intermediate between the dual paradigms of Han and T’ang styles. It therefore shows the exuberant line of the former and the anatomical certainty of the latter, to remarkable effect. The piece depicts a warhorse, with elongated legs, an arched neck and open mouth. The rendering is exquisite, with protuberant musculature on the shoulders and limbs, careful subtractive modelling of the facial features and linear detailing of the mane and other surface anatomy. The pose of the animal suggests exhaustion – albeit with perfect poise – which is strangely at odds with the horse’s evidently relaxed pace, and the behaviour of his rider. The warrior is depicted in a decidedly un- martial pose, with an ornate hairstyle, a long coat and a trouser tunic, playing a set of pipes. He is unarmed, and scarcely seems dressed for battle. His face and hair are carefully picked out and painted with dark paint, contrasting with the orangey-red of the background clay and the paler pigment. Something can perhaps be made of this piece’s significance in light of the Sui Dynasty’s history.The Sui Dynasty was founded in a series of bloody conflicts and retributions between the Northern Qi and Zhou Dynasties towards the end of the 6th century AD. In order to gain power, Wendi – the first emperor – had 59 other aspirants to the throne put to death, reclaiming his Han surname (Yang) and reversing many of the anti-Confucian doctrines that had been put in place after the Han supremacy. He also abolished the corrupt 9-rank system, introduced land equalisation, and instituted major social change out of all proportion to the dynasty’s short duration. The Dynasty was bent upon recapturing the southern portion of China (Chen Dynasty) that had broken away during the preceding periods, and reunifying it into a single China, and to this end raised an army of over half a million and the largest fleet ever seen in 588 AD. The Chen immediately collapsed and ceded power, upon which their capital was razed to the ground and its riches plundered and taken back to the north; these proved to be the basis of most of the Sui Dynasty’s stylistic conventions.Wendi and his successors were both humanitarian and ruthless. While admired for his efforts to build infrastructure and provide economic safety nets, he also introduced savagely arduous compulsory labour and taxation to fuel a set of highly ambitious military campaigns beyond China’s borders. His son Yangdi did not have any of his father’s diplomatic skills, however, and did not seek to appease any potentially powerful enemies. Military spending was phenomenal, and it was this that spelt the end of the dynasty. His forays into Vietnam, Goguryeo and Korea proved disastrous, with about 2.1 million casualties – many of them to malaria – while a series of ambitious development plans (such as the Grand Canal) bled the treasury dry. Perhaps their most lasting architectural achievement was the rebuilding of the Great Wall. Eventually, the agricultural base of China was being damaged by the ceaseless conscription, leading to a revolt that ushered in the T’ang Empire.The monarchs of the Sui Dynasty continued to practice Buddhism as the main state religion. It has been argued that it was Buddhism, in fact, that rescued China from its previous turmoil and social disparity; it, and the monarch who wielded it, proved to be the unifying force that made the Sui Dynasty work. The iconography of the period owes much to this religious tendency. Being in many respects a highly militarised state, Sui public art is usually somewhat austere (especially the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas) yet their smaller- scale works are usually less restrained. Social ordering was everything, as today, and people were anxious to assert their rank through extravagant shows which extended to the afterlife. Mingqi remained very important, and this is an excellent example of the genre in which one might glimpse something of the martial aspirations of the period from which it comes. Yet at the same time it is a charmingly informal piece of someone who is evidently a high-ranking member of Sui society, and a far gentler representation than might be expected from a Sui piece.This is a beautiful piece of ancient Chinese art. - (DK.160 (LSO))

Antiquities
Ancient Asian