Two Horses
Unknown Chinese, Chinese
Han Gan, Chinese, 725 - 775
Qing Dynasty 1644-1912
Album leaf; colored inks and wash on silk
Image: 9 7/8 × 7 15/16 in. (25.1 × 20.2 cm)
Sheet: 12 7/8 × 9 5/16 in. (32.7 × 23.6 cm)
Overall: 12 7/8 × 9 5/16 × 13/16 in. (32.7 × 23.6 × 2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Selections from the Peterson Collection, Gift of William Bingham, 2nd
P.942.2.68
Geography
Place Made: China, East Asia, Asia
Period
19th century
Object Name
Watercolor
Research Area
Watercolor
On view
Label
In Chinese horse painting, the xiangma (相馬) principle played a significant role in how the subject was represented. Translating as “judging a horse,” xiangma labels both the process and the skill involved in discerning the character of a horse based on its physical characteristics. The vibrant horses throughout this album evidence classic xiangma principles, including “eyes resembling a suspended bell, ears like trimmed bamboo, tail like a suspended broom, and straight forelegs,” as illustrated in Essential Arts of the Common People (Qimin yaoshu), one of the oldest agricultural guidebooks in China (it was published in the 6th century). This anonymous artist follows the style of Han Gan, a Tang Dynasty horse painter who was renowned for capturing these animals’ inner spirits.
From the 2024 exhibition Attitude of Coexistence: Non-Humans in East Asian Art, curated by Haely Chang, Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art
Exhibition History
Attitude of Coexistence: Non-humans in East Asian Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 16, 2024-March 1, 2025.
Provenance
Collected by Dr. Frederick Peterson (1859-1938) (possibly in Japan), around 1910-1929; catalogued by Dr. Berthold Laufer in 1930; acquired by WIlliam Bingham II (1879-1955) in the 1930s [possibly at the time of Dr. Peterson's death in 1938]; on loan to the Princeton University Art Gallery, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, about 1938-1941; purchased by the Trustees of Princeton University from WIlliam Bingham II in 1941 with the stipulation that some of the paintings be distributed to Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire [stated in the Princeton University Deed of Gift, the collection should be officially designated as "Selections from the Peterson Collection, Gift of WIlliam Bingham, 2nd"]; given to present collection, 1942.
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