Minneapolis Institute of Art
Tomb Tile
China
- Date
- 1st century
- Medium
- Impressed earthenware
- Department
- Asian Art
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
This impressed tomb tile presents horses in two complementary roles central to Han elite life. In hunting scenes, mounted riders pursue wild animals across rugged terrain, relying on the horse’s speed and endurance to master the landscape. Elsewhere, horses appear calmly positioned before pavilions and multi-story estates, visually linking them to architecture associated with wealth and authority. Together, these images cast the horse as both an active partner in aristocratic pastimes and a marker of social rank. Integrated into tomb architecture, such scenes projected elite identity into the afterlife, affirming status, privilege, and control through the presence of the horse. China, Asia
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