Model horse and rider.
The horse is probably covered with brushed dark grey paper, with white areas above the hooves. It has a black painted muzzle. The tail is made of fine black thread, and the mane is brown hair. It has glass eyes. The horse wears a bridle of orange cord and russet tassels, reins of blue and white striped fabric that is machine stitched along edge, and a saddle of two pieces of leather, one above the other, the upper decorated with painted leaves and flowers. There are additional panels below this on each flank that are made of wood, and attached to the lower saddle by two pieces of cord tied in a knot. Broken straps suggest that there were stirrups, which are now missing.
The horse is supported on a rectangular wooden stand with dark varnish, attached by its rear hooves and front right hoof, with the front left leg raised. There are panels of woven straw attached to the hooves with string.
The rider is separate from the horse. His head and hands are of flesh coloured material, possibly plastic. He he has glass eyes, and black hair tied in a knot on top of the head. A long headdress of netting is secured to a cream headband with purple stitching, with a bow and two streamers at the nape. There are four layers of cream fabric wrapped around neck, suggesting under garments. The outer garment has gold and blue brocade sleeves, bound with orange cord at the wrists. The body armour consists of a breastplate of gold, grey, and metal bands joined with orange cord. There are two metal bosses on the breastplate, one on each side, each with a central hoop. The back plate is plain, black lacquered with a black string attached on the boss in the middle. A black metal container with a hoop above for carrying arrows is attached on a string, which is not original and probably added to keep the items together. The body armour on the upper arms is of similar construction to the breastplate.
Around the waist is a roll of thick cream damask fabric, and he wears pale gold trousers of damask fabric. There are seven panels of body armour suspended from the waist, two to the rear and three to the front, of similar construction to the breastplate. Two single panels of gold metal decorated with black lacing or cord, one covering each lower leg, are attached to the trousers by a pale grey piece of fabric. The lower legs appear to be made of fabric tubes stuffed with an unknown substance and stiffened with external rods. On the feet are straw sandals (waraji) tied with string between the toes. The feet appear to be painted grey to suggest tabi. There is a model sword in a fibre sheath through the waistband.
Featured
Collection Information
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections, can suggest corrections to our information or if you see content requiring immediate action, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk