Title | The First Lady’s Ox Carriage | ||
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This is a detailed view of the First Lady’s ox carriage as seen in the Depiction of the Noble Couple’s Outing on the eastern wall of the middle passage. In ancient times, a carriage was an important form of transportation for the noble class. An ox carriage was generally used by women, and men either rode horse carriages or rode a horse directly. As seen in the image, the First Lady's carriage features veils at the front and back, and the top is covered by an awning-like sunshade (used by nobles in ancient times for sun protection, similar to a modern-day parasol). Remarkably, the black sunshade stretches all the way to the ox, considered to be the modern-day engine of the carriage, to protect it from the heat of the sun. This particular type of sunshade is called an angled sunshade, featuring a slight angle in the middle rather than the usual straight-line configuration.
As no examples of Koguryo era ox carriages exist today, this painting is considered to be a very valuable resource for understanding the carriages of the time.