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Saddle plates
Sixteen Kingdoms, Former Yan (337–370)
Gilt bronze
Front plate: max. w. 17 3/4 in. (45 cm); back plate: max. w. 23 1/4 in. (59 cm)
Excavated at Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, 1988
Liaoning Institute of Archeology
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These elegant saddle plates were found in the northeastern province of Liaoning, an area briefly controlled by members of the nomadic Murong Xianbei who had entered the region from further north sometime in the third century. Ruling as the Former Yan (337–370), they briefly controlled the northeast as well as parts of north central China such as Henan Province. These plates are decorated with an openwork pattern composed of hexagons enclosing fantastic animals and birds. First found in territories controlled by the Murong Xianbei, this distinctive design would spread northwest to Pingcheng in Shanxi Province, the first capital of the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), ruled by the Tuoba Xianbei, as well as east to the Silla kingdom (57 B.C.– A.D. 668) on the southeastern edge of Korea.
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