Étude sur la physiognomonie du cheval sous les dynasties des Han et des Tang (IIIe siècle av. è. c. - Xe siècle) à partir de documents archéologiques

Horse Physiognomy is a vital category in the divinatory art "Morphoscopy" (xingfa) practiced in ancient China. Xingfa was a set of theory and techniques, which to judge propitious or not based on observing dimensions of things. It also served as a basic paradigm in their understanding of the world. Several lost books on physiognomy have been excavated, including a book copied on silk in Mawang dui, entitled Book of Horse Physiognomy (Xiangma jing) and three books on bamboo slips dating from the Han dynasty, entitled Book of Dog Physiognomy (Xianggou jing), Methods of Dog Physiognomy (Xianggou fang) and Book of the physiognomy of Swords (Xiang lishan daojian), discovered respectively in Shuanggu dui, Yinqueshan and Juyan. The large number of these books founded in descriptive accounts of books in dynastic histories and excavated manuscripts suggests that physiognomy occupies a significant place in the knowledge, beliefs and society of traditional China. In this paper, the author has studied works on bamboo slips discovered in Xuanquan, the Great Wall of Han dynasty in Dunhuang, and Shuihudi Qin tombs, silk texts excavated in Mawang dui, manuscripts from the Mogao caves in Dunhuang obtained by Aurel Stein during his second Central Asia expedition, as well as discoveries of cultural remains and mural paintings on horse physiognomy in Gansu. He combined them with works handed down, such as the Qimin yaoshu (Essential Skills to benefit the People, sixth century encyclopedia of agricultural knowledge by Jia Sixie) to cast new, more systematic light on the origins and development of the horse physiognomy during the Han to Tang dynasties. This research is intended to develop a comprehensive understanding of the place of different source materials in the production of classical knowledge and the practice of xingfa arts, and to re-think the role of manuscripts and objects in intellectual history, folk belief, and daily life in medieval China.Xin Yu. Étude sur la physiognomonie du cheval sous les dynasties des Han et des Tang (IIIe siècle av. è. c. - Xe siècle) à partir de documents archéologiques. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 25, 2016. Vies taoïstes, communautés et lieux / Daoist Lives, Community and Place pp. 267-295