Three horsemen riding under willows
date: label: Date
content: 15th century
label: Period
content: Ming dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Zhao Mengfu 趙孟頫 (1254-1322)
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Zhe School
label: Label
content: Reflecting the wealth and privilege of their high social class, three aristocratic equestrians race through an open forest glade, engaged either in training or sport and clearly enjoying their sleek, well-fed steeds. This is probably a surviving portion of a much larger work. All three horsemen look to the left, where the focus of the original composition used to be. Earlier paintings of the same sort suggest their common origin in the tenth century. Certain stylistic qualities of this work, such as the flat rocks in the foreground rendered in wide strokes of ink, define it as a product of the middle years of the Ming dynasty (1368&#150;1644).
label: Provenance
content: To 1909
label: Provenance
content: Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1909 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 621, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), Loon Gu Sai was possibly Lunguzhai, a store in the antiques district of Liulichang.
label: Provenance
content: This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: Year of the Horse: Chinese Horse Paintings (February 24 to September 2, 2002)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Loon Gu Sai (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: landscape
label: Topic
content: tree
label: Topic
content: horse
label: Topic
content: Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)
label: Topic
content: man
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1909.163
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 186.2 x 95.1 cm (73 5/16 x 37 7/16 in)