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Four riders

China

Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE)

Not on view

Each of these horses is carved from a single piece of wood. They are lacquered in black with highlights in bright red. The riders, each one also carved from a single woodblock, are not lacquered but painted, with pigment over white slip, now mostly lost after millennia of burial. They probably functioned as honor guards in a ceremonial procession, a typical element of Han tomb furnishings. It is notable that they were found at Mianyang, Sichuan Province, where the lacquer industry flourished during the Han dynasty.

Four riders, Wood, China

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Four riders, Wood, China
Four riders, Wood, China
Four riders, Wood, China
Four riders, Wood, China
Four riders, Wood, China
Four riders, Wood, China
Four riders, Wood, China

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