Four Afghan Steeds

Four Afghan Steeds
ArtistGiuseppe Castiglione
Year1763
Dimensions40.7 cm × 297.1 cm (16.0 in × 117.0 in)
LocationNational Palace Museum
Four Afghan Steeds
Traditional Chinese愛烏罕四駿圖
Simplified Chinese爱乌罕四骏图
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinÀiwūhǎn sìjùn tú

Four Afghan Steeds (Chinese: 愛烏罕四駿圖) is a series of four portraits of Afghan horses donated to the Qianlong Emperor of China in 1763 by Emir Ahmad Shah of Afghanistan, and painted on a silk roll by the Milanese Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Castiglione. These paintings, commissioned shortly before Castiglione's death, present detailed information about each of the horses, in four languages: Uyghur, Chinese, Manchurian and Mongolian. It is considered one of Castiglione's most famous works and are now kept at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan along with other art featuring horses by Castiglione.