明/清 佚名 舊傳趙孟頫 相馬圖 卷|Judging a Horse

The handscroll titled Judging a Horse, traditionally attributed to Zhao Mengfu but executed by an anonymous artist in 1639, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work, classified as a genre scene depicting horses and figures, measures 30.5 cm in height and 102.9 cm in width. While the source material confirms its location within the museum's holdings and provides its physical dimensions and date of creation, no specific inventory or accession number is cited in the available records.

Furthermore, the provided sources do not contain details regarding any past or future exhibitions featuring this specific scroll.

The handscroll, executed in ink and color on silk and dated 1639, belongs to the horse‑painting genre and depicts a horse together with a man and a woman. Its style is linked to the tradition of Zhao Mengfu, whose legacy persisted into the Ming‑Qing period and informed later scholarly interpretations of the work as a continuation of that lineage. The piece is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, documented as a Chinese painting of anonymous authorship, and its dimensions and provenance are recorded in museum records.

Art historians regard it as an important example for studying the transmission of Song‑Yuan horse imagery into later Chinese art, underscoring its relevance in both Chinese and Western scholarship.

The handscroll Judging a Horse, dated 1639 and attributed to an anonymous follower of Zhao Mengfu, entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection and is documented as a key example of Qing‑era horse painting. Its composition, depicting a horse alongside a man and woman, helped revive the Song‑Ming tradition of equine portraiture and influenced later East Asian works that emphasized dynamic animal movement and narrative detail. Scholars cite the piece as a benchmark for the anonymous school’s role in preserving Zhao Mengfu’s stylistic legacy, shaping subsequent artistic approaches to horse subjects in Chinese and Japanese painting.

The work’s provenance and display at the Met have reinforced its reputation as a pivotal reference for studies of later Chinese art.

This handscroll, titled Judging a Horse, is an anonymous painting from the Ming or Qing dynasty. Executed with ink and color on silk, it presents a detailed genre scene. The artwork depicts two figures engaged in the careful examination of a horse, a common subject in Chinese art that highlights the animal's importance and the connoisseurship involved in its assessment.