Illustrations of Ancient Chinese Armors

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

There's a very nice Chinese book called "画説中國历代甲胄" (Illustrations of Ancient Chinese Armors). This book was published in 2009, it was authored by the Chinese artist Chen Dawei in collaboration with the Chinese archaeologist Liu Yonghua. This book has some of the most historically accurate illustrations of ancient Chinese armors that I've seen so far.

Here are the illustrations in this book. Enjoy.

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Shang

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Western Zhou

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Eastern Zhou - Warring States

heylouis · Nov 9, 2013

purakjelia said:
Eastern Zhou - Warring States

isn't 漆/lacquer too expensive, and too difficult to keep in storage?

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Due to copyright issues, not all pictures can be posted. Here I have to skip the periods in between and immediately jump to Tang Dynasty.

Tang armors

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

heylouis said:
isn't 漆/lacquer too expensive, and too difficult to keep in storage?

This armor was based on the armor found in Marquis Zeng's tomb. According to archaelogists, this armor indeed used lacquer.

This armor was an expensive armor, as it was worn by a marquis, not by common soldiers.

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (the warring period between Tang and Song)

Haakbus · Nov 9, 2013

Very interesting. I like the one first one with the mask.

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Han Dynasty armor

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Song Dynasty armors

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Ming Dynasty brigandine armor

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Manchurian Qing Dynasty brigandine armor

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Ming Dynasty chainmail armor

purakjelia · Nov 9, 2013

Three Kingdoms - Western Jin Dynasty lamellar helmet and scale vest

YouLoveMeYouKnowIt · Nov 11, 2013

purakjelia said:
Han Dynasty armor

Can see similarities with Gugoryeo armor

Bart Dale · Nov 11, 2013

Very interesting. It didn't say, but was the Song armor a kind of brigandine armour? It looks a little like the Qing armor that is clearly called brigandine, but it also looks like the scale armor too.

Also, I didn't think the chinese used much (chain&#61185

mail armour. Was there a change in the Qing dynasty, or was that Qing mail armour just an example of some rich lord's armour? I read somewhere that mail was sometimes used by the elites and generals. (I wonder if that was because mail was more flexible and possibly more comfortable, and the generals were not expected to be in the middle of battle all the time, and so could sacrifice a little protection for improved comfort)

And one more thing - all those Chinese soldiers seem to be wearing a lot of clothes. I think that northern China can be pretty cold, but wouldn't the soldiers be hot in all that armour and clothes fighting in the South, where it can get hot?

purakjelia · Nov 11, 2013

YouLoveMeYouKnowIt said:
Can see similarities with Gugoryeo armor

Considering that there were many exchanges and wars going on between China and Northeast Asia at that time, it's not hard to imagine this similarity.

purakjelia · Nov 11, 2013

Bart Dale said:
Very interesting. It didn't say, but was the Song armor a kind of brigandine armour? It looks a little like the Qing armor that is clearly called brigandine, but it also looks like the scale armor too.

Also, I didn't think the chinese used much (chain&#61185 mail armour. Was there a change in the Qing dynasty, or was that Qing mail armour just an example of some rich lord's armour? I read somewhere that mail was sometimes used by the elites and generals. (I wonder if that was because mail was more flexible and possibly more comfortable, and the generals were not expected to be in the middle of battle all the time, and so could sacrifice a little protection for improved comfort)

And one more thing - all those Chinese soldiers seem to be wearing a lot of clothes. I think that northern China can be pretty cold, but wouldn't the soldiers be hot in all that armour and clothes fighting in the South, where it can get hot?

Those Song armors that I posted are lamellar armors. The one on top is called the mountain-pattern lamellar armor and it's mainly used by high-ranking generals, and the one below is the conventional lamellar armor used by heavy infantry. Brigandine armor was introduced to China by the Mongols.

Chinese first acquired chainmail armors from Sogdiana as early as the fifth century AD. However, for some reason they didn't like to use those armors. It wasn't until the Yuan and Ming dynasties that the chainmail armors began to popularize. But even then, mail armors were mostly used by the elite soldiers or generals, while common soldiers used brigandine or cotton tunic.

Southern soldiers mostly likely used lighter paper armors or fabric armors. Southern Song records suggest that the militiamen along the Huai River preferred to use leather hats, paper armors, and light crossbows, and they also suggest that those militiamen seem to be more mobile and more effective than the imperial Song armies who used heavy lamellar armors and heavy crossbows.

f0ma · Nov 11, 2013

Interesting stuff. I remember seeing this (or something very similar) a few years ago. I'm guessing Chen Dawei the same David Chen who provided the illustrations for this? If so then there's some more information regarding the book.

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