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- Tang tomb figures illustrated many examples of armour ranging from the simple armour worn by the infantry to the rather elaborate and fanciful "cuirassier-style� armour worn by the heavenly guardians ( ) (figs, xii, xiii, xiv).
During the Tang dynasty, armour worn by the soldiers became more decorative, and the wearing of animal-head decorations on the body seems to have become very popular, especially on the shoulders. It was during the reign of Dai Zong that his president of the Board of War, Ma Sui, developed a new armour in three grades differentiated according to length. The helmets worn with this new type of armour were said to be in the form of lion heads (fig. 57).
The use of fully caparisoned horses continued into the Tang dynasty. As can be seen on the New Brunswick Museum�s ceramic horse (fig. 48), the armour covers the war horse almost down to its knees and includes a protective mask and neck guard The armour had an outer layer of hide with an under layer of small linking plates, probably made of leather, which is indicated on the horse tomb figurine by the row of laminae along the lower edge.
The most impressive armoured clay figures of the Tang dynasty wear armour similar to that seen on the Four Heavenly Kings ( )at Buddhist temples This
type of highly decorative armour might have been only used for parades or processions for the highest-ranking officers. During the reign of Emperor Su Zong (756-762) it is recorded that some of his guards dressed as lokapalas.
Because there are usually two fierce clay warriors in a tomb standing on a struggling demon (sometimes on a reclining bull), it has been suggested that they may be related to two Tang generals, one of whom was named Jin Shubao. Jin is said to have made the boast that he had �chopped up men like melons and piled corpses up like ant hills.� When Emperor Tai Zong was having trouble sleeping because he was imagining ghosts, Jin and another general offered to stand guard at the Emperor's door. The problem with the ghosts abruptly stopped. The Emperor was so pleased, that he had the generals� portraits painted and hung on either side of his palace gate. Tang records tell us that this became a tradition and these men became referred to as �door-gods.�
During the Five Dynasties period (907-960), the cord and plaque armour of the Tang was further modified, and combinations of scale armour and link (d>) armour seem to have also become popular, as seen in the illustration of a stone relief inside the tomb of the first Southern Tang Emperor, Li Bian (fig. xv), and the warriors holding the coffin platform of the Emperor Wang Jian of the Former Shu (fig. xvi). By the time of the Song dynasty (960-1279), much attention was paid to armour and it was greatly improved. A book called Wu Jing Zong Yao (General Outline of Military Principles and Techniques) by Zeng Gongliang gives a detailed description of the armour used at this time.
However, the heavy armour of the Song proved ineffective against the Khitans, Jurcheds and the Mongols, who, with their highly mobile cavalry and light armour got the better of the heavily-armoured Chinese cavalry. This, coupled with the use of gunpowder and new military weapons brought about the gradual decline of heavy defensive armour. During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911) chain mail and suits combining scale armour and link (Jj) armour were still in use. However, by Qing times, armour seems to have had more of a ceremonial function than a military one. Many good examples of Ming and Qing suits of armour can be seen on the stone military officials found in the tomb spirit paths of emperors and officials (figs, xviii, xix). Besides chain mail, the Qing period had a light armour of parallel rows of steel laminae.
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