308 Chinese Clay Figures 



the T'ang Dynasty. The rebel Kao K'ai-tao, who conquered Yii-yang 

 in 618 and styled himself Prince of Yen, for example, was in possession 

 of several thousand mail-clad horses and ten thousand men. 1 Among 

 the types of armor officially established by the T'ang dynasty we find 

 also "horse cuirasses" (ma kid); and a charger caparisoned in this 

 manner appears in a contemporaneous clay figure (Fig. 51) coated with 

 a yellow glaze. The armor covers the war-horse almost down to its 

 knees; and as it appears as a solid mass without any divisions, it may be 

 one of hide (also the rider apparently wears a hide armor) ; it is possible, 

 however, that the hide is merely the exterior cover, and is placed over an 

 armor of solid plate mail indicated by the row of laminae along the lower 

 edge. 2 



Under the Sung dynasty the horses received facial masks of copper. 3 

 According to Ts'e fu yiian kuei, Chang Yen-tse, Governor of King- 

 chou, 4 presented in 942, on his arrival at the capital, in order to show his 

 gratitude for favors received, nine horses, and again fifty horses to- 

 gether with silver saddles and bridles, and iron armor for the protection 

 of the faces of horses and men; at a later date he presented fifty 

 horses with gold saddles and bridles, with complete armor for the 

 horses and men. 



The furniture of the horses of the Mongols is described by the 

 Franciscan Piano Carpini in 1246. 5 It was of two kinds, — iron plate 

 mail, as described in Chapter V, and leather scale armor. The latter 

 consisted of five parts, — the body armor in two halves extending from 

 the head to the tail, and fastened to the saddle, a protection for the 

 croup, a neck-guard, a breastplate reaching down to the knees, and an 

 iron lamina on the forehead (being the chanf rin) . 



In another passage the same writer says that many of the horses of 

 Kuyuk had bits, breastplates, saddles, and cruppers, quite twenty marks' 

 worth of gold. 6 The Armenian historian Haithon states that the horses 

 of the Mongols, like their riders, were clothed with leather armor. 7 



Interesting illustrations depicting the single pieces making the com- 

 plete furniture of the horse are preserved in the Wu pet chi (Figs. 52-54) 



1 T'ang shu, Ch. 86, p. 4 b. 



2 Also among the Moghuls the horses were first covered with mail, over which 

 was put a decorated quilt (see H. Blochmann, Ain I Akbari, Vol. I, Plate XIV, and 

 the explanation on p. Xl). 



3 Sung shi, Ch. 197, p. 2. 



4 In Kan-su Province (Playfair, Cities and Towns of China, 2d ed., No. 11 12). 



5 Edition of G. Pulle, p. 87 (Studi italiani di filologia indo-iranica, Vol. IX, 

 Firenze, 1913). This passage is lacking in the former editions of Carpini. 



6 W. W. Rockhill, The Journey of William of Rubruck, p. 20. 



7 G. Altunian, Die Mongolen und ihre Eroberungen, p. 81 (Berlin, 191 1). 



