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Grooms and horses

Zhao Mengfu Chinese
Zhao Yong Chinese
Zhao Lin Chinese
dated 1296 and 1359
Not on view
In the early Yuan period, when the ruling Mongols curtailed the employment of Chinese scholar-officials, the theme of the groom and horse—one associated with the legendary figure of Bole, whose ability to judge horses had become a metaphor for the recruitment of able government officials—became a symbolic plea for the proper use of scholarly talent. Zhao Mengfu painted this work for the high-ranking Surveillance Commissioner Feiqing, who may have been a government recruiter. Executed in early 1296, shortly after Zhao withdrew from civil service, the sensitively rendered groom may be a self-portrait.

The striking geometry of the composition, made up of a series of prominent arcs in the figures of the horse and groom, and framed by the level ground line and vertical inscription, appears to have been constructed with a compass and square. The Chinese term "compass-square" (guiju) means "regulation" or "order." Thus, the painting may also be read as a metaphor for good government and, by extension, a measure of the artist's moral rectitude.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 元　趙孟頫　趙雍　趙麟　吳興趙氏三世人馬圖　卷
  • Title: Grooms and horses
  • Artist: Zhao Mengfu (Chinese, 1254–1322)
  • Artist: Zhao Yong (Chinese, 1289–after 1360)
  • Artist: Zhao Lin (Chinese, active second half of the 14th century)
  • Period: Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
  • Date: dated 1296 and 1359
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Handscroll; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 11 7/8 x 70 1/8 in. (30.2 x 178.1 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 12 1/4 in. x 29 ft. 2 1/2 in. (31.1 x 890.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
  • Object Number: 1988.135
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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7337. Man and Horse, Part 1

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