Figures and Horses in Landscape
15th century
Chinese black ink and heavily applied pigments on silk
32 × 199.5 cm (12.6 × 78.5 in)
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In the collection of Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia — check current display status with the museum.
Discussion
FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
Five horses and five men move across a wooded landscape. The horizontal space and soft, stippled brushstrokes create an impression of vastness and mystery. The men's costumes identify them as foreigners (possibly Mongols), as do the leopard and tiger skins worn by two horses. The subject of men leading horses was sometimes a metaphor for government, and so this handscroll could allude to the collapse in 1368 of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty and their succession by the Han Chinese Ming Dynasty.
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