Cleveland Museum of Art

Haniwa Horse

Date

400s–500s CE

Medium

earthenware with traces of pigment

Culture

Japan, Kofun period (300–710 CE)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This horse’s tack, with its round bells, resembles saddlery in fashion in Korea during the 400s–500s CE. Concurrent with mass migration from the Korean Peninsula, tombs covered with large earthen mounds similar to those on the Asian continent began to appear in Japan around the year 300 CE. Called “old mounds” ( kofun ), their surfaces were covered with hollow clay cylinders ( haniwa ). Sculptures of animals, buildings, and finally human figures followed, developing over the ensuing three centuries.

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