Ma Jin (1900-1970) was a disciple of Jin Cheng (1878-1926), who founded the Chinese Painting Research Institute during the early years of the Republic of China. Ma, who excelled at equine painting, used traditional gongbi techniques to interpret the painting style of Guiseppe Castiglione (1688-1766, Chinese name Lang Shining), a European missionary who lived in Qing dynasty China. This choice reflects how, in Ma's day, Castiglione's contributions were already seen as being a part of traditional Chinese painting methodologies. Through efforts of the Chinese Painting Research Institute, Ma helped the painting style of the “Lang school” become an area of study in the Beijing art world. 
        This work, completed in 1923, is a copy of Castiglione's “One Hundred Horses” that was formerly held in the Qing dynasty palace art collections. The scroll also includes a cursive script (caoshu) inscription written in 1952 by the calligrapher Yu Yu-jen (1879-1964). The painting was donated to the NPM by the late General Ho Ying-chin (1890-1987). “One Hundred Horses” depicts fine horses being trained for the imperial court, the animals peacefully coexisting alongside the official grooms charged with their care amid pastoral scenery. Such imagery was especially well suited as a gift conveying wishes for peace on earth during the war-torn early Republican era.

Chen Juzhong (ca. 13th century) was a painter-in-waiting who served at court during the Southern Song dynasty during Emperor Ningzong's Jiatai reign period (1201-1204). Chen was talented at painting human figures as well as depictions of foreigners with their horses, especially in paintings with themes portraying the activities of hunters or herders who lived along the empire's borders. This work in particular depicts a scene of a person hunting by bow and arrow on horseback. As the horse gallops in one direction, the rider has twisted his torso in the opposite direction and drawn his bow as he takes aim at his quarry behind him. The wild deer's torso is arched and its front legs slightly bent, as though it has taken notice of the hunter before it and is readying to come to a screeching halt. The artist captured this fleeting moment on the hunt with great vibrancy. With its detailed depiction of the hunter and animals' physical movements, the painting conveys an atmosphere of palpable tension.

This painting portrays a party of hunters making their way through mountainous terrain. In the center of this image, we see one of the hunters drawing his bow as he takes aim at a wild goose in the sky above. His companions have all turned their gazes upwards, as though holding their breaths waiting to see if the hunt will be successful. The hunting party's leader can be found on the right side of image—his visage is quite similar to depictions of Yuan dynasty emperor Chengzong (r. 1265-1307, known as Öljeyitü Khan in Mongolian). The formation taken by this group of hunters is similar to that seen in Liu Guandao's (ca. late 13th century) painting “Emperor Shizu of Yuan on the Hunt.” It can thus be surmised that this painting is possibly the work of an early-14th century court painter.

This portrayal of human and equine figures was painted by Qiu Ying (1494-1553), one of the four masters of Ming dynasty painting. At its top, the painting features a calligraphic rendition of Song dynasty literatus Mi Fu's (1052-1108) “Ode to the Heavenly Horse,” inscribed in 1540 by Wen Zhengming (1470-1559). 
The groom in the center of the image who's leading the white horse seems poised to strike up a conversation with the black horse's groom, who wears a felt hat on his head as part of a distinctly foreign outfit. The white horse stands still in the foreground, its spirit evidently at peace, but to create contrast, the black horse behind it has its ears perked up as it lifts its head to observe its surroundings with a warlike expression in its eyes. This work departs from Qiu Ying's tendency to use detailed outlines with lines of uniform thickness. Instead, “A Pair of Steeds” features brushwork with rich transformation in the lifting and pressing of the brush's tip. Qiu used alternations between thickness and thinness in his linework to delineate the horses' rippling musculatures. 

This work depicts four purebred Afghan horses that were presented to the Qing dynasty throne as tribute by the former kingdom of Aiwuhan (located in present-day northern Afghanistan) in the winter of Emperor Qianlong's twenty-seventh year of reign (1762). Qianlong bestowed the horses with the names Chao'ercong, Laiyuanliu, Yulaidu, and Lingkunbai, and then ordered Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766, Chinese name Lang Shining) to paint their portraits. Castiglione portrayed each horse in this painting with a distinct orientation and pose, cleverly presenting the horses' bodies from different angles. He used western techniques for painting light and shadow in order to depict the sheen of the horses' coats along with their powerful musculatures. To the upper right above each horse are calligraphic inscriptions in four languages—Manchu, Mongolian, Chinese, and Hui (which is written using Arabic characters)—providing the animals' names and measurements. The scroll begins with an inscription of “The Song of Four Steeds from Aiwuhan,” which was written by Emperor Qianlong in 1763. This work combines painting and the written word in order to record the circumstances of this deliverance of equine tribute. 

Hsu Pei-hung (1895-1953) achieved fame for his paintings of horses. He studied occidental painting techniques in Paris and later combined western realist painting with traditional Chinese brush-and-ink painting, creating a new style that blended the best of both worlds. Hsu made penetrating studies of equine anatomy and painted huge numbers of quick sketches, practices that gave him the ability to use uncomplicated freehand brush techniques to portray horses' forms with great accuracy. 
        This piece was painted in 1940, in the midst of China's War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945). It depicts a horse filled with vim and vigor, a spirited expression upon its face as it turns its head to examine its surroundings. The artist painted this image with strident, forceful brushwork. Moreover, ink that has been left on an ink-stone long enough to begin drying out has a tendency to bleed when applied to paper—Hsu took advantage of this effect when painting the horse's body, and then used heavy applications of ink to emphasize parts of its silhouette. He used a nearly-dry brush as he painted the mane and tail, giving their hairs the appearance of flowing in the wind. These choices create a visual effect that puts the “five characteristics of ink” (thick, pale, dry, moist, and black) on display.