Earthenware Funerary Objects in the Shape of a Warrior on Horseback

A pair of pottery figures of men on horseback, excavated from Geumnyeongchong Tomb in Gyeongju. The master is 23.4 cm high and 29.4 cm long, the servant 21.3 cm high and 26.8 cm long. They came out of the tomb in 1924 with a boat-shaped vessel, and seem to have been made for a magical purpose: to guide the soul of the dead to the other world by land and by water. Each is a rider on a short-legged pony standing on a thick rectangular slab. On the horse's rump is a cup pierced at the bottom, and a long spout projects from its chest, so that water could be poured through the hollow body of the horse. The master, whose horse is richly harnessed, wears a triangular cap with a band and ornaments like a peaked hood, and trousers with a lattice pattern. The servant has his topknot tied up in a cloth, is stripped to the waist, carries a pack on his back and holds something like a bell in his right hand, as though leading the way. They are important for what they tell us about Silla beliefs about the soul and about the dress, weapons, horse gear and craft design of the time.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보