"war6_98 <war6_98@y...>" wrote:
> I looking for any information on this army. Dress, banners
> and shield. Any help would be appreciated.

Tricky. The Wen Chi scroll in the Met Museum in NY is probably a Ming
copy of a Song work, and the "barbarians" in it are based on Khitan-
Liao. Figures reconstructed from these can be seen in Chris Peers'
Osprey "Imperial Chinese Armies (2)" and "Mediaeval Chinese Armies"
(the first plate, billed as a Mongol).

The armoured cavalry shown in the scroll have iron lamellar armour
and helmets over small black caps (many having removed their
helmets). Clothes are mostly plain and fairly dull - browns, greys,
occasional reds. Black boots. Quivers and bowcases sometimes leopard-
skin. Lance, sword, bow, club, no shields. Horses have black leather
armour laced in blue, iron chamfrons.

One horse has iron armour. It may be the general's - he is dressed as
his men but in golden armour.

Unarmoured men who may be grooms and/or light horse wear the same
clothing and small black caps.

The general sits with a group of five flags - the same ones are shown
accompanying him on the march in another scene. They are rectangular
with three narrow tails, and each is in a plain colour. IIRC, these
are the colours of the five directions - black, white, yellow, red,
and blue-green - so the five together probably represent insignia of
command, they aren't separate unit flags.

Infantry are anyone's guess.

There's a modern Korean painting of a victory over the Khitan at
http://warmemo.co.kr/koryo_dynasty_e.htm - but don't put too much
trust in it.

Some background at http://www.uglychinese.org/khitan.htm

cheers,
Duncan