Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Two Horses
Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE)
Not on view
These horses, draft animals for a military vehicle, were assembled from modular parts made separately in molds, among them the ears, head and neck, trunk, legs, and tail. A hole at the back of the mouth allowed for the installation of the rein. Faint traces of pigment on the lips, ears, and nostrils suggest that they were once painted. By the mid-second century B.C., when cavalry began to replace chariots on the battlefield, the role of horses in Han warfare grew more prominent. The Han army traveled with thousands of horses on expedition to the Western Regions.
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