Night-Shining White [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

This is a wonderful hand-scroll-portrait of Emperor Xuanzong’s (712-756) best-known horse, painted by Han Gan, who was known for portraying not only the physical likeness of a horse but also its spirit.

Although Han is said to have preferred visits to the stables over the study of earlier paintings of horses, the profile image and the abstraction of the animal’s anatomy clearly derive from ancient prototypes.