Mask from a Horse Bridle
Western Zhou dynasty ( 1046–771 BC ), about 9th century BC
- Medium
- Bronze
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Dimensions
- 26.5 × 27.5 × 0.3 cm (10 3/8 × 10 3/4 × 3/32 in.)
- Culture
- China
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This sheet of hammered bronze was attached to cloth or leather as part of an elaborate bridle. The mask was placed on the horse's forehead, between the ears. Similar plaques have been excavated from the trappings of horses and chariots that were buried in trenches adjacent to aristocratic tombs in present-day Xi'an, the site of the Western Zhou capital.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
