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Department:

The Museum Proper

Replica or Original:

Replica

On Display, In Storage, or in a Private Offsite Collection:

On Display

Primary Material:

Metal

Medium:

Bronze

Dimensions:

14" x 17" x 4"

Classification/Category:

Furnishings

Specific Classification:

Statue

Notable Signatures,

Inscriptions, and/or Markings:

Donated by:

Unknown

Accession Number

1993.049.001

Artifact Date:

1000 B.C. - A.D.

Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)

Artifact Era/Dynasty:

Unknown

Creator:

Chinese

Creator Ancestry:

00:00 / 01:02

In 1969, the Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Sparrow was unearthed from the Leitai tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Wuwei County, Gansu Province, China. While digging air raid shelters, civilians discovered the Han Dynasty tomb. This discovery breached the brick tomb walls, uncovering a trove of gold, bronze and silver wares, pottery, and a bevy of bronze horses and chariots. The most imposing of the artifacts unearthed was an exquisite bronze galloping horse statue.


The Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Sparrow has been distinguished for its value as an ancient Chinese relic by artists and individuals internationally. The artifact in our collection animates a similar form, capturing vitality, while the bird underfoot serves as a marker for the horse’s lightning-fast speed. Some scholars dispute that the trodden-on bird is a swallow due to the lack of a forked tail, but the majority believe it to be, crediting ancient poems verses relating horses and swallows. 



Artifact Date:

1000 B.C. - A.D.

Artifact Era/Dynasty:

Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)

Creator:

Unknown

Creator Ancestory:

Chinese

Catalogue Entry

Online References:

Department:

The Museum Proper

On Display, In Storage, or in a Private Offsite Collection:

On Display

Replica or Original:

Replica

A bronze statue of a horse stepping on a swallow.
一匹馬踏飛燕的銅像。

Listen

00:00 / 01:04

Classification/Category:

Furnishings

Specific Classification:

Statue

Notable Signatures,

Inscriptions, and/or Markings:

Primary Material:

Metal

Medium:

Bronze

Dimensions:

14" x 17" x 4"

Donated by:

Unknown

Accession Number:

1993.049.001

Bronze Galloping Horse Stepping on a Swallow 銅奔馬

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