Jin-silk with Winged Horses in Beaded Floral Medallions

On this fragment of weft-faced silk twill there are one and a half beaded floral medallion remaining. While the area outside the roundels adorned with floral cruciform, what’s inside the bead-string circle distinctively colored in dark blue and red is a winged horse, whose architype is Pegasus, son of Poseidon and Medusa in ancient Greek myths. It is said that where the hoof of Pegasus steps on, there would be spring flushing out, which serves as sources of inspiration for poets. Jin-silk pieces with similar winged-horse pattern had also been unearthed in Alagou, Turpan and Egypt.