Horse Head

ClassificationsSculpture

Culture Tibetan

Datelate 18th to 19th Century

Made AtTibet Autonomous Region, China, Asia

MediumBronze and pigments

Dimensions13 1/4 × 2 1/8 × 5 1/8 in. (33.7 × 5.4 × 13 cm)

Credit LineGift of Virginia Rooney

Object number2021.5.1

DescriptionThis is a Tibetan horse head sculpture made of brass sometime in the 18th or 19th Century. A narrower section at the base of the piece suggests that it would have originally been socketed into a larger object, however there is no indication as to what that larger object may have looked like. Horses regularly appear in Tibetan art, likely due to the pervasiveness of horseback riding in Tibet historically. Though most sculptural works feature Buddhist deities, horses sometimes appear in the context of the zodiac or in depictions of some gods. Palden Lhamo is often depicted as riding a horse bearing a similar headpiece coming out of the mane. At least one other sculpture of the wrathful protector goddess of Tibet also has a skull at the fore of its mane.

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