The Chinese New Year is one of the most important and most widely celebrated festivals in Singapore and lasts for 15 days. For the Chinese, it is a time of family reunion accompanied by feasting and merriment. Children excitedly receive red packets containing money from their married relatives.
According to the Chinese astrology, 2014 is the year of the Horse, and is celebrated on 31 January to 14 February 2014.
The Asian Civilisations Museum has welcomed the 2014, the Year of the Horse, with horse-related artifacts showcased in the lobby. It is free for all visitors to view!
This beautiful, intricately-designed horse is a Chinese shadow puppet:
Chinese shadow puppetry is a form of theatre acted by colourful silhouette figures made from leather or paper, accompanied by music and operatic singing. These puppets have moveable joints and their movements are controlled by puppeteers using poles. The puppets are held close to a white curtain with their coloured shadows cast on it by a strong light from behind.
Chinese shadow puppetry are mainly performed for entertainments or for religious rituals, weddings and funerals and other special occasions. It is unique in that it combines Chinese folk art with indigenous theatre. In character design, there are elements of traditional ink and color painting, sculpture, stone carving and paper cut, while the performance itself is often deep rooted in Chinese folk operas, dance and music.
Chinese shadow puppetry is credited to be a forerunner of cinematography.
This early Gandharan sculpture depicts the important episodes from the life of the Buddha:
The lowest panel shows the Great Departure, when Prince Siddhartha (before he became the Buddha) escaped from his palace home riding his favourite horse Kanthaka, with the yaksha (earth spirit) holding Kanthaka’s hooves. Prince Siddhartha had used Kanthaka in all the major events in his life prior to his renunciation of the world. Following Prince Siddhartha’s departure, Kanthaka died of a broken heart.
The middle panel depicts Prince Siddhartha being surrounded by demons during his meditation before he achieved enlightenment. The top panel depicts the Buddha, after his enlightenment, giving his First Sermon to his first disciples.
The ancient kingdom of Gandhara was located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. It lay at an important crossroad between East and West, and became a point of exchange for trade, religion and art. In this sculpture, one can observe a mix of Greco-Roman and Indian styles. The robes of the man in front of the horse in the lowest panel and the woman next to the Buddha were in Greco-Roman style. The Buddha, his attendants and disciples were dressed in the dhoti-style attire that is prevalent in India.
This white porcelain piece depicts a rider sitting jauntily on his caparisoned horse and wearing a Western-style hat, tunic, breeches and high-heeled boots.
Figure 3: Incense BurnerSuch pieces could have been made for the domestic market and later for export to Europe.
There is a small cylindrical tube attached to the hind leg of the horse. This indicates that this piece could have been intended for use as an incense burner, although it is doubtful the Europeans really used it that way.
This white porcelain was made in Dehua in Fujian province in China. Dehua porcelains are known to the Europeans as “blanc de Chine” (China white).
This silver bowl may depict a scene from the Mahajanaka Jataka, one of the 547 past lives of the Buddha, in which two brothers and their armies fight each other:
Figure 4: BowlCommon depictions in Burmese silver include scenes from the Jataka, Hindu Ramayana, folk tales and animals from the Burmese zodiac.
The form of this bowl could be based on a monk’s begging bowl.
This silver piece features a central sunburst surrounded by horses and riders:
Figure 5: DiscDiscs like this were worn by the peoples of Flores, suspended from a chain around the neck. To these people, horses were associated with the elite, and were often portrayed as mounts of local deities.
This beautiful, lead-glazed ceramic horse was a funerary object found in a Tang Dynasty tomb in China:
To the Tang Dynasty people, horses were a popular subject in art. Horses were used in warfare, in burial processions, in rapid-relay postal systems, in hunting and polo. Figures of horses were frequently found in Tang tombs.
This horse was decorated with a lead-glaze called sancai (three colours in Chinese), although very often, more than three colours are found. Colours include amber, brown, green and blue. The running glaze may relate to the ‘blood-sweating’ horses imported into China from the Ferghana valley (modern-day Uzbekistan), which at that time were considered extremely fine horses.
Our Cyber Exhibition Series is where we try to give touring exhibits in Singapore a permanent home on the internet so they live forever. Do check out my other articles below if you’re interested to learn about other exhibits that have been on display before at the Asian Civilization Museum.
So that’s all, folks! I hope you have enjoyed viewing these horse-related artefacts. I know I have. May your 2014 be blessed with happiness and success!
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