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Removing the saddle, inspecting the arrows 解鞍調箭圖
From the collection of National Museum of Asian Art (Freer/Sackler). Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This finely executed painting shows a grizzled cavalry warrior who has removed his armor and rests while he inspects his arrows. Glad to be rid of its saddle, his horse rolls on the ground, happily kicking its legs in the air. The horse has an incision in its ear, a practice followed by the Khitans. These seminomadic people lived on the northeastern border regions of the Northern Song (960-1127) empire in the general area of modern Manchuria, where they established their own Liao dynasty (907-1125).
National Museum of Asian Art (Freer/Sackler)’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineRemoving the saddle, inspecting the arrows 解鞍調箭圖. 12th century. Traditionally attributed to Zhang Kan (傳)張戡 (active mid-10th century). National Museum of Asian Art (Freer/Sackler), Gift of Charles Lang Freer. CC0.
