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Four horses

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 horses, Lacquer over wood, China

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Four horses, Lacquer over wood, China
Four horses, Lacquer over wood, China
Four horses, Lacquer over wood, China
Four horses, Lacquer over wood, China
Four horses, Lacquer over wood, China
Four horses, Lacquer over wood, China

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