Artwork Details
65-7/8 x 37-1/8 in. (image) 105-1/2 x 44-1/2 in. (mount) 105-1/2 x 48-1/2 in. (installed)
DynastyInscribed: Lian Bu Spurious signed: Su Hanchen
Accession NumberGift of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Roberts, Jr.
CopyrightAsian Art (Chinese and other Asian)
Color PaletteProvenance
Provenance
(Senator Theodore Francis Green, Rhode Island); John H. Roberts, Indianapolis, Indiana; given to the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1985.
Gallery Labels
Gallery Labels
The inscription at the top of the painting bears the name of an artist who was active in the 1100s. However, the style of the painting confirms that the signature is a forgery. A comparison of this painting with one painted by Hu Cong (active about 1425-1525), on display in the exhibition "Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty," from the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, not only suggests the proper time period of the painting, but quite possibly also the actual artist.
White horses such as this one were a symbol for district magistrates, and this painting may well have been painted as a special gift to someone newly appointed to that position or leaving to assume it.
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