In 1973, a tomb from the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.- A.D. 935) was discovered. In the tomb were found several mudguards with cheonma, heavenly horses, drawn on their sides. The three pairs of mudguard were designed to prevent dirt from splashing up onto the king. Amongst the saddle parts, the lower section made of birch bark was in relatively better condition and went to on to be displayed to the public. The pieces made of steel or bamboo were not in very good condition and archeologists were unable to fit them into their original shapes. After 41 years of restoration work, however, two more pieces of the mudguards are being revealed to the public for the first time.

For the first time, the Gyeongju National Museum recently unveiled one upper piece of a mudguard made of birch bark and an upper piece of another mudguards made of bamboo. The bamboo mudguard, in particular, was confirmed to have a picture of a cheonma, a heavenly horse, on its surface, according to the museum.






The museum produced measured drawings of the mudguard in order to find the original shapes of the horse drawings. It compared 3D scanned images, infrared images and x-ray photos of each of the saddle pieces in order to find out what the actual drawings looked like.

Also at the museum are pieces of the bamboo mudguard. The museum found that the horse drawing on the bamboo saddle piece was decorated with gilt bronze metal plate, and was not based on a painting. This mudguard was attached with 10 gilt bronze metal plates decorated with a pierced pattern onto a background plate made with thin bamboo sticks and pure linen. The gilt bronze pattern was found using the museum’s 3D scanners and infrared imaging, a first for the museum. The body of the horse was filled with scales, diamond shapes and dots. Its eyes, ears, mane and tail all look similar to the existing horses on the birch bark mudguards, the museum added.



The three cheonma drawings on the mudguard can be seen in the museum’s special exhibition room, “Cheonmachong, the Royal Tomb of Silla.”

The exhibition will be held three times, separately, from March 18 to April 6, from April 29 to May 18 and from June 2 to 22.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr