Noble+Horse

=__//**Noble Horse(Emaciated Horse)**//__=

[|ttp://www.metmuseum.org/special/khubilai-khan/paintings-and-calligraphy/noble-horse.aspx?oid=48025&s=3&p=1]


 * Title: Noble Horse (Also refred to as "Emaciated Horse").
 * Artist(s): [|Gong Kai](Chinese, 1222–after 1304)
 * Date:12th-13th century
 * Period: [|Yuan dynasty](1271–1368)
 * Country of Origin: [|China]
 * Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation:
 * Medium:Handscroll; ink on paper
 * Dimensions: Image: 11 3/4 x 22 3/8 in. (29.8 x 56.8 cm) Overall with mounting: H. 12 13/16 in. (32.5 cm)
 * Museum/Collection: [|The Metropolitan Museum of Art](On loan from Osaka Municipal Museum of Art).
 * Accession Number: KB.110
 * Current Location and Manner of Display: New York, New York, U.S.
 * Provenance:Unknown

=__//Introduction//__= This is the painting "Noble Horse" created by the famous Chinese artist Gong Kai, he created this painting during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1304). The painting is currently being displayed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (On loan from Osaka Municipal Museum of Art). It will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during September 28 thru January 2, 2010 and show cased at "The World of Khubilai Khan- Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty" exhibition featuring art from the Yuan dynasty. =//__Descriptive Analysis__//= The painting "Noble Horse"11 3/4 x 22 3/8 in. (29.8 x 56.8 cm), it is ink, on a paper hand scroll. As seen there is not much color on the painting and during the Yuan dynasty not many artists if any used bright color in their painting (source?). The painting is very detailed in the body structure of the horse. You can see the bone structure of the horse body like the ribs, spin, and legs as if the horse was starving. There stamps/seals place upon the painting representing the many owners of the painting during the years (Such as noblemen, and emperors). The painting has an inscription on it wrote by its creator Gong Kai, it reads as followed "Ever since the clouds and mist fell upon the Heavenly Pass, Empty have been the twelve imperial stables of the previous dynasty. Who is there today to lament over the bones of this noble steed? In the setting sun, along the sandy shore, he casts a shadow like a mountain. One of the classics says that a horse's ribs should be slender and numerous. An ordinary horse has only ten ribs. One with more than this is a noble steed. But only a thousand-league horse has as many as fifteen ribs. If you want to paint the bones beneath the flesh, especially if you intend to make fifteen ribs visible, they will only be visible if the horse is emaciated. Therefore I have made this image in order to show that the extraordinary deterioration of this thousand-league horse is not something to be avoided" (cite source). =**//__Formal and Contextual Analysis__//**= Gong Kai (1227-1307) was a Chinese government official during the Song dynasty. During his life time Mongols armies under Kublai Khan (dates) invaded and took over China in (date). Due to the rule of the Mongols the art of China and its many schools are art began to decline (source). Gong Kai lost his Government position and was force to find work else ware. He was not a trained professional artist but he created such painting as this one to support his family. This painting "Noble Horse" represents the era Gong Kai lived in. Horses were considered to be a symbol of China (source). Many lords, and soldiers had powerful, and noble horse they used every day, representing there rule and power! This horse in this paint is emaciated as it looks starved to death. Gong Kai did this because that how he was representing himself and other scholars in this pain that lost much to the Mongols. He once was a powerful and noble government official but now he is nobody with nothing "The animal is probably meant to be from the Song Dynasty (even though drawn in the Tang Dynasty style). In previous years, this horse had been a noble, lively, and youthful creature, but now is reduced to a mere skeleton, clutching onto the last pieces of his shattered dignity. One possibility is that the horse is a symbol for the devastated Song Dynasty. Another possibility is that the horse represents Gong Kai and other scholars like himself (especially since horses during this time period generally were used as a metaphor for humans). To Gong Kai, the “Emaciated Horse” is an i-min just like himself"-- paraphrase (Wikipedia).

=**//__Perosonal Interpretation__//**= I believe that this painting represents the feelings of Gong Kai and many nobles when China was conquered by the Mongol empire. This painting may have been done by what at the time was consider a amateur painting but its looks great to me.

=﻿//__References__//= Other printed sources that should be consulted, such as Power and Virtue: the horse in Chinese art.
 * "A Noble Horse" 16 March 2009,< []>
 * The web link to Osaka Municipal Museum display of "Noble Horse". The Osaka Municipal Museum is the owners of the painting.
 * "China" 28 November, 2010 < [] >
 * General information on the country China.
 * "Chinese Zodiac-Chinese Astronomy" Januray 2010,< []>
 * Chinese zodiac desribing the "Horse zodiac".
 * "Gong Kai" 11 November 2010,< [] >
 * Information on the artist Gong Kai
 * "The World of Khubilai Khan- Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty." 28 Septemeber, 2010,< [] >
 * This is the website link to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s link to the show casing of this exhibition of Yuan Dynasty art, like this one.

=__//**﻿Supporting Images**//__=