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- detail and realistic movements cannot be equalled by earlier ceramic horse sculptures. In the field of ceramic sculpture, the well-muscled Tang horses must rank with the finest statues ever crafted in China (fig. viii). Glistening tri-colour glazes, which blurred and blended creating suffused colours, helped to underline the vigorous and un�bridled power of the horse.
The horse figurines from later dynasties lack character, are stiff, disproportioned, and the legs usually exhibit a clumsy attempt at sculpting.
The Bactrian camel was evidently also a popular animal to depict in tomb figurines, as numerous examples have been excavated dating from the Northern Wei to Tang dynasties as well as one from the Yuan dynasty. These animals, some�times mounted by foreign traders, carried bales of merchandise along the Silk Road, which linked Tang China and Europe. Therefore, these beasts of burden in one�s tomb also represented a status symbol of having large commercial interests or at least being wealthy enough to trade with the foreign merchants, who brought all sorts of exotic goods from distant lands. The ceramic camels from Tang dynasty tombs are often huge, brightly glazed and are depicted with heads thrown back bellowing in a sign of defiance.
The other kinds of pottery animals which make up the repertory placed in tombs are usually small and simple, and cannot even come close to the horses and camels as major works of art. These animals, which include lions, dogs, pigs, sheep, oxen, chickens, geese and ducks, are usually simply made of one or two moulds. The dogs, especially of the Han dynasty, and the lions of the Tang dynasty, occasionally show originality and are well rendered. Some of the ceramic oxen are also well depicted and seen pulling carts (fig. xii).
i Shang chariot burial with skeletons of two horses and a charioteer from a tomb at Anyang, Henan.
ii Terracotta horses at tomb of Qin Shi Huang near Xian, Shaanxi.
iii Bronze carriage (half life-size) excavated beside the tumulus of Qin Shi Huang.
iv Gilt bronze horse excavated near tomb of Western Han Emperor Wu near Xianyang, Shaanxi.
v Bronze galloping horse with hind hoof on a flying swallowfrom Eastern Han tomb at Wuwei, Gansu.
vi Wooden horse excavated from Han tomb at Wuwei, Gansu.
vii Earthenware horse from Northern Wei tomb at Quyang, Hebei. Kaogu 1972.5.
viii Tri-colour glazed Tang horse figurine. National Museum of History, Taiwan.
ix Earthenware camel from Northern Wei tomb at Quyang, Hebei. Kaogu 1972.5.
x Tri-colour glazed Tang camel with foreign rider. National Museum of History, Taiwan.
xi Green-glazed ceramic pig from Eastern Han tomb near Changxian, Hebei.
xii Tang bullock cart.
Les animaux de l�au-del�
De I�Antiquite jusqu�� la derniere dynastie imperiale, les tombes ont ete ornees de figurines representant toutes sortes d�animaux domestiques. Si Ton en juge par le nombre de figures equestres, le cheval est l�animal de loin le plus admire de la Chine ancienne. La mise au jour, pres de tombes de l�epoque des Shang et des Zhou (XlVe-llle siede av. J.-c.), de caveaux remplis de chevaux et de chars offerts en sacrifice nous prouve que le cheval compte parmi les possessions les plus prisees de I�aristocratie de cette periode (fig. i).
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