Man Riding a Horse

Man Riding a Horse (人騎圖)

Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫, 1254-1322), Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

Ink and colors on paper, 30 x 52 cm, The Palace Museum, Beijing

       Zhao Mengfu painted this image for his younger brother Mengyu, perhaps as he was about to take up a new post. The young man in the painting, with wispy beard and dressed in an official robe and hat, calmly controls his similarly young mount, its spirited nature revealed by the forward tilt of its ears.

       In addition to Zhao's title along the right margin and his signature and date on the left, he added two more inscriptions to the painting. Written in response to his brother's laudatory colophon, the inscriptions proudly proclaim Zhao's Tang-dynasty stylistic sources from Han Gan (韓幹).