Horses and Grooms Crossing a River
date: label: Date
content: 14th century or likely much later
label: Period
content: Yuan to modern
name: label: Artist
content: Traditionally attributed to Zhao Mengfu 趙孟頫 (1254-1322)
notes: label: Label
content: Zhao Mengfu, a descendant of the Song (960-1279) royal family, was a multitalented artist who lived during the early Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) and is regarded as the leading painter and calligrapher of his time. He was skillful in a wide range of subject matter, such as landscape, figure, horse, and bird-and-flower painting. According to his own statement, Zhao learned to draw horses at a relatively young age and believed that his paintings were able to capture the true inner nature of a horse.
label: Label
content: In this short handscroll, Zhao depicts three grooms and fifteen horses in various postures crossing a river. By combining the colorful realism of the Tang dynasty (618-907) with the ink line drawing of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) literati tradition, Zhao Mengfu established a new direction for his fellow painters during the transitional years of the late thirteenth century. While the painting does not exhibit the superb skill and fluency of the artist's genuine works, it is probably a close copy of an original composition by Zhao and may have been executed by one of his more accomplished followers.
label: Provenance
content: 1931
label: Provenance
content: Fukushima Company, New York 1931 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1931
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Fukushima Company, New York in 1931 [2]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Object file, undated folder sheet note.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy (November 22, 2014 to May 31, 2015)
label: Exhibition History
content: Year of the Horse: Chinese Horse Paintings (February 24 to September 2, 2002)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Paintings (June 5, 1957 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Painting and Pottery (May 2, 1923 to March 22, 1943)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Fukushima Company
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: horse
label: Topic
content: Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368)
label: Topic
content: Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)
label: Topic
content: water
label: Topic
content: river
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
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: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1931.3
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 16.8 x 87 cm (6 5/8 x 34 1/4 in)