Celebrating 2026: The Year of the Fire Horse
Celebrating 2026
The Year of the Fire Horse
Curated by Art of the Ancestors Editorial Team
Happy New Year from Art of the Ancestors!
Our team wishes everyone a felicitous start to this rare and radiant Year of the Fire Horse, which returns for the first time in sixty years. The Horse, seventh of the great zodiac cycle, has long been revered in Chinese culture as a symbol of strength, nobility, freedom, and the vital yang spirit.
May the year ahead be most auspicious, and may it bring great fortune to all.
— Art of the Ancestors Editorial Team
1
Wall panel relief depicting Ashurbanipal on horseback during a lion hunt
The British Museum
645 BC - 635 BC
Nineveh
Neo-Assyrian
Gypsum
Acquired in 1856
124874
2
Head of a horse of Selene from the east pediment of the Parthenon
The British Museum
438 BC - 432 BC
Classical Greek
Made in Athens
Designed by Pheidias
Marble
Purchased from Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, 1816
1816,0610.98
3
公元前3至2世纪 青銅驭手端飾
Finial in the shape of a horse and rider
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–256 BCE)
3rd–2nd century B.C
China or Southeast Asia
Bronze
Gift of Mrs. John Marriott, Mrs. John Barry Ryan, Gilbert W. Kahn, Roger Wolfe Kahn (children of Addie W. Kahn), 1949
49.136.8
4
Horse-headed Vishnu
Musée Guimet
Third quarter — 10th century
Khmer
Cambodia
Donated by Adhémard Leclère, 1896
MG18099
5
Relief plaque depicting a horseman
Weltmuseum Wien
16th/17th century
Edo, Benin Kingdom
West Africa, Nigeria, Benin
Brass
Collection of Wilhelm Albert Maschmann, 1899
64796
6
公元前6世紀 馬紋金飾件
Pectoral in the shape of a horse
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
ca. 6th century BCE
North or northeast China
Gold
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw, 2002
2002.201.34
7
Whip handle in the shape of a horse
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New Kingdom
Dynasty 18
Reign of Amenhotep III
ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
Egypt
Ivory, garnet, paint
Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
26.7.1293
8
Wall panel relief depicting a chariot and horsemen
Musée du Louvre
Circa 645
Nineveh
Neo-Assyrian
Gypsum
Gift of the British Authorities, 1855
AO 19909
9
Dagger with horse head pommel
Musée du Louvre
17th century
Mughal dynasty
Damascus steel inlaid with gold, jade hilt inlaid with gold and semi-precious stones
Former collections of Salomon de Rothschild, purchase 1927
R 890 (OA 7891)
10
Rhyton in the shape of a horse head
Miho Museum
Northern Iran/Eastern Anatolia
Achaemenid Period, 5th century BC
前５世紀
Silver with gilding
11
Funeral figure of a horse’s head
Rijksmuseum
c. 220 - c. 589
China
Earthenware painted reddish brown
On loan from the Royal Asian Art Society in The Netherlands
Gift of Carolina Geertruida Verburgt-Kramers, 1928
AK-MAK-62
12
Head of a horse figurine
Victoria & Albert Museum
Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD)
China
Carved nephrite jade
Purchased with Art Fund support, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee
A.16-1935
All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of the attributed museums.