written by Imran bin Tajudeen
It’s the year of the horse starting 31 Jan 2014! What better time to recall an important and enigmatic horse statuette from 14th century Singapura!
Plate 40 in Cheryl-Ann Low Mei Gek, “Singapore from the 14th to 19th century,” in Early Singapore 1300s-1819: Evidences in Maps, Texts and Artefacts, ed. Miksic, John N.; Cheryl-Ann Low Mei Gek. Singapore: Singapore History Museum, 2004.
This 14th century Javanese wayang-style horse-and-rider figure is one of numerous interesting, unique artefacts that have been recovered from 14th century Old Singapura through archaeological excavations.
It is to date the earliest known depiction of a horse to be found in Singapore. It comes from the excavation at Empress Place by Dr John Miksic. While it is rightfully celebrated, it is unfortunately not yet very well-known.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_History_Gallery we read the following:
Winged Rider Statue/Headless Horseman
“Discovered by Dr John Miksic, the artefact (a statuette) was given its name for its headless body. The rider appears to be wearing a sarong and holding a spear in his arm. The rider sits on a winged horse. The image of this motif can be seen on both sides of the statuette.”
This otherwise useful Wikipedia entry makes one mistake – this statuette was not rediscovered in the 1980s, but rather during the Empress Place excavations of April to mid-June 1998. The correct date can be seen from the website “World of Temasek” http://www.worldoftemasek.com/index.php/article/archaeology which also states the following:
“Winged Rider Statue: At the Empress Place site, archaeologists uncovered a small figure of a man riding a horse. The head was not recovered. Dubbed the “Headless Horseman” by Dr. John Miksic, the rider is wearing what appears to be a sarong around his lower body and sits on either a winged horse or a horse with a winged saddle. Analysis revealed it is made of lead, which makes it the only ancient lead statue ever found in the whole of Southeast Asia. Various theories have been put forward for the purpose of this statue, including a depiction of an ancestor of the rulers of Temasek who in the Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals) emerged from the ocean on a winged sea-horse.”
We glean two tantalising pieces of information:
First, lead statues are virtually unknown in the Southeast Asian context — though there is a vast number of exquisite and finely-wrought bronze and gold objects from Java already from the 9th century, for instance this late 10th century East Javanese bronze sculputre of a seated Buddha flanked by two Boddhisattvas. This makes this lead statue a very unique find!
Second, although the style of the figure is Javanese — Malay accounts on 14th century Singapura tell of rivalry and relations with Majapahit Java, and the 14th century was indeed the heyday of the East Javanese kingdom/empire of Majapahit (1297-1527) — there is a possibility that the subject matter of the figure may be specific to the Malay dynasty of 14th century Singapura and its myth of origin. Again, this statuette might well be very unique and specific to old Singapura! One wonders too where it was manufactured…
The webpage in World of Temasek includes a small thumbnail image of the Headless Horseman aka Winged Rider Statue – too small though. It also features and describes various other artefact highlights from 14th century Singapura – go check it out!
Happy Year of the Horse, everyone! And maybe make a date with 14th century Singapura at the Singapore History Gallery in the National Museum of Singapore to view this and other artefacts!
In Part II, find out the history of horses in 19th century Singapura and its connection to the Bugis merchants of Kg Gelam/Rochor and the Baweanese community of Singapore! Article coming out soon in October 2014!
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