Chinggis Khan - Mongol Empire History - forthcoming book from Cambridge Univ. Press

 Salvete Omnes,

Chinggis Khan as the first emperor of Yuan Dynasty 

a shot entry - of course it is the dog day for sure - :) 

a new book on the Mongols and their meteoric rise to power and empire is coming this year - be it August or perhaps later . The publisher is the Cambridge University Press - The Mongol Empire, Two Volume Set. - Hiram & Kim editors et al. 

Chinggis Khan on horseback according to a Yuan Dynasty artist

Yuan Dynasty in China

Kublai Khan on a hunting expedition, by Chinese court artist Liu Guandao, c. 1280

Temur Khan hunting geese - detail 

the empire was won on and from horseback - and many of these mounts might have succumbed to the hardships of  campaigning 

while other mounts thrived on 

horse archery, martial and hunting skills were the most desired attributes for a Mongol horseman

 

detail from a Yuan Dynasty painting 

a detail from Yuan Dynasty scroll - lots of jingles on this horse harness 

Looking forward to see this publication 

pure beauty of this painting from 1271-1368 period

valete

Stepanova & Marsadolov - Mongol saddles from south Siberia

 Salvete Omnes,

a short entry -
there is a new article that E.V. Stepanova, researcher the Hermitage Museum, published on her academia page.

the article is about the Mongol period (XII-XIV centuriesAD) saddles from Chasovennaya Gora near Krasnoyarsk, south Siberia, Russian Federation.

Below you can find one of the images included in the article - the new reconstruction of  one of the saddles by E.V. Stepanova

Valete

Yuan equestrian art - ceramics

 Salvete Omnes,

snowy and frosty winter out there - I guess it must be the fabled global warming in the Northern Hemisphere. 

ad rem, from the great galleries of wiki commons- Yuan Dynasty equestrian figurines -
as you may have read here I enjoy the long Chinese history, and I read and watch about that history as much as I can.
The Yuans awere particular in many respects, and their art is part of the greater Chinese art heritage, as it was  the fusion of many elements that came to a happy fruition: the steppe patrons and their expectations, steppe artists and Han Chinese artisans, who all together  gave raise to the Yuan Dynasty art.
We should note here that  this foreign Chingizid Borjigin dynasty upon conquering various states and empires across the  land unified the  entire China for the first time since the demise Tang Dynasty.

So, some of these equestrian ceramics are corralled here: 

  camels

camel drummer

horse carriage and escort:

pack horses with folded chairs

and please find this short article on and about the Marco Polo's description of the military affairs of the Yuan Dynasty

Valete

Zhao Mengfu's horses

Salve,

again thanks to the users of the Wikimedia Commons, we are given  a rare glimpse into the world of Chinese painting some 700 years ago.

First, I am going to add that I do have a favorite dynasty of the Chinese awfully long imperial history - that would be Tang China and her multiethnic empire (at least until the An Lushan rebellion).
Yuan Dynasty is a Chingizid Borjigin Mongol dynasty that had conquered then much partitioned China, unified the country into one imperial state but eventually, after about a 100 years, was forced out of the 'Han' China by the nationalistic Han revolt which in turn  gave raise to the Ming Dynasty etc (I am sure you can read all about this on the Web).
Chinese arts did not stop flowing under the Borjigin Celestial Emperors - eg article on the subject here.  A sample of figurative art under the Mongol rule.

Yuan Dynasty, Yang Guifei Mounting a Horse, by Qian Xuan (1235-1307).

So, this artist Zhao Mengfu came from the highest circles of the Mandarin clans, from the imperial (Song Dynasty) clan of Zhao. He was a prolific artist and awfully skillful calligrapher.

for now we will just enjoy the paintings themselves, but in the fure I may exlpore some interesting info appearing in these works of art.

enjoy