Mandatory Credit: Photo by Paul Cooper/REX/Shutterstock (9626380h) The Golden Horse of Maoling installation 'China's First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors' exhibition, World Museum, Liverpool, UK - 10 Apr 2018 Made of gilded bronze, it is the largest ever found in China and was discovered at Maoling near the Mausoleum of Emperor Wu, the fifth ruler of the Western Han dynasty. The slender body of the Golden Horse and its muscles suggest it represents one of the finer breeds of horses Emperor Wu imported from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. These tall and beautiful horses were probably the ancestors of a number of modern breeds which are renowned for their speed, endurance and intelligence. They are famous for their shimmering coats, often golden in colour, which led them to be known as 'golden horses'. Emperor Wu was obsessed with these strong and swift 'heavenly horses' and chose to be buried with them, as he believed they could help him defeat the nomadic tribes of the north and also bring him immortality