元　趙孟頫　趙雍　趙麟　吳興趙氏三世人馬圖　卷|Grooms and horses

Zhao Mengfu|Zhao Yong|Zhao Lin

dated 1296 and 1359 · Handscroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

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.

Artist

Zhao Mengfu|Zhao Yong|Zhao Lin

Date

dated 1296 and 1359

Medium

Handscroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988