Chinese
Nine Tripod Cauldrons
九鼎
The legitimacy to rule all under heaven. They rest with dynasties of virtue.
VesselFirst recorded c. 400 BCE
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Photograph: A bronze horse of the late seventeenth century. Mane flying, it leaps with forelegs raised high on a black base.
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3,000 × 2,238 PX3000×2238
ArchiveChinese · Mount
Red Hare
赤兔
Runs a thousand li a day and crosses rivers and mountains as if on level ground.
- Owner
- Lü Bu, later Guan Yu
- Maker
- Unknown
- First record
- Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Lü Bu290
- Gallery
- Chinese
Notes on the photograph 3
Story
The Biography of Lü Bu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms says he had a fine horse named Red Hare. Pei Songzhi's commentary records that people of the time said, "Among men Lü Bu, among horses Red Hare."
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms adds more. Dong Zhuo used Red Hare to lure Lü Bu into betraying his foster father Ding Yuan. After Lü Bu died Cao Cao gave the horse to Guan Yu to win his heart, and Guan Yu rejoiced that with it he could reach his elder brother Liu Bei in a single day if he learned where he was.
The Romance says that after Guan Yu's death Red Hare refused to eat and followed him in death.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Galloping horse(Italian (Francesco Fanelli), second half of the 17th century), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
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