To celebrate Hong Kong's hosting of the equestrian events of the 2008 Olympic Games, a special exhibition focusing on the horse in Chinese art and culture will showcase around 40 exhibits selected from the collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The exhibits include Chinese ceramics, bronzes, bamboo carvings, Chinese paintings, historical pictures and modern works. Based on this wide range of art forms, the exhibition sets out to explore the various roles and symbolic meanings of the horse through its depiction in Chinese and modern Hong Kong art from four perspectives: the role of the horse in ancient China; the literati essence in Chinese horse paintings; the horse as decoration and symbol; and the horse in modern art.

Monkey on a horse carved in the round
Qing Kangxi period (1662 – 1722)

Ye Zuibai (1909 – 1999)
Galloping horse