To the Moon Year of the Horse

The Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne presents the exhibition "In the Year of the Horse" as a profound retrospective of the role of this animal in the cultures of China, Korea, and Japan. A multitude of exhibits, including paintings, woodblock prints, ceramics, porcelain, bronze sculptures, and lacquer objects, illustrate the multifaceted significance of the horse over millennia. It is highlighted as a celestial steed, a status symbol, and a symbol of strength, power, and virtue, which significantly shaped East Asian art and cultural history. The exhibition opens perspectives across epochs and regions and demonstrates how the horse became an iconic motif, at times even replacing the dragon as an imperial means of transport in representations. This cultural-historical examination allows for a profound understanding of East Asian art and its implications for social structures and axiological concepts. The exhibition offers an intercultural engagement with the inherent interconnectedness of art, myth, and tradition, which goes far beyond mere history.