Scale armour was used by the armies of the Silk Road throughout the first millennium, both for men and for their mounts (see cat. no. 99). The Guardian Kings depicted in contemporary paintings wear scale armour representative of the style of the period and place: just as the architecture and clothing shown in Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang was Chinese rather than following Indian models. The eighth or ninth-century Guardian King shown here, although not standing on a demon, carrying no weapons and entirely non-grotesque, still wears scale armour similar to that worn by the contemporary cavalryman and the three infantry guards.
Ink and pigments on silk
The British Museum,
1919,0101,0.126 (Ch.0095)