Figure of a Horse

CultureChinese

Date3rd century B.C.E.

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 7 7/8 × 9 1/4 inches (20 × 23.5 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number32-185/7 B

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionOne of a pair of standing horse figures, with conventionalized hair lines on its legs and covered with nodules of patina.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Horse in Art, Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1938.

The Horse in Art, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, January 18-February 24, 1963.

Gallery Label

The long torso and stocky proportions of these horses are typical of the East Asian steppes and are clearly distinct from the taller Central Asian breeds represented by ceramic figures. Horses had been used for drawing chariots since the Shang dynasty, but it was only in the fourth century b.c.e. that they began to be used for cavalry on a significant scale, in response to the threat posed by mounted nomads.

Provenance

Yamanaka & Co., New York, 1932;

Purchased from Yamanaka & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932.

Published References

Master Bronzes (Buffalo, New York: Albright Gallery, Feb.1937), no.25,ill, ( repro.).

Erdberg Consten, Das Alte China (Stuttgart: G. Kilpper, 1958), pl. 56, top, (repro.).

Laurence C.S. Sickman, Art and Architecture of China (London, Connoisseur, May, 1956), 206, il. , pl. 9. (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 174, (repro.).

Capolavori Nei Secoli, no. 25 (Milano, May 12, 1962):19,(repro.).

Mario Bussagli, Chinese bronzes (Milano, 1966), pl.46. p.103 col. Art news, (Dec. 20, 1930):18, (repro.).

Jerome R. Reich, & Mark M. Krug, Building the Modern World (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969),(repro.).

George Savage, Concise history of Bronzes (London: Thames and Hudson, 1969, 1968),113 pl. 95, (repro.).

Hugo Munsterberg, Sculpture of the Orient (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), pl. 64, (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 16, (repro.).

Editorial, “The lure of Ancient China,” Apollo, special issue for the Asian art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. XCVII, no. 133 (March 1973): 214, fig. 6, (repro.).

William Watson, Art of Dynastic China, no.251 (New York: Abrams, 1981, 1979): 389, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 281, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008):299, fig. 51, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.