AFTER GIUSEPPE CASTIGLIONE'The Eight Horses of Muwang', mid-20th centuryColours on silk, a hanging scroll within silk brocade borders and mount, with spurious red Qianlong seal, framed and glazed, apanied with dedication plaque dated February, 1966.152.5cm (60in) high x 66cm (26in) wide (2).For further information on this lot please visit theCondition Report: An impressive item in good general order.Painting retains very good colour with only very minor foxing detected. Framing too is of good quality and in good order. Some small pieces of debris including loose silk threads and small dust and other particles have found their way down through the detachable backboards (held by sliders along edges) and reside behind the glass. An area of scuffing to the paint surface through to near-white silk below is seen on the neck and forelegs of the black/white horse and downwards at 45% as far as the forelegs legs of the reclining brown horse below.Provenance: The 'Eight Horses of Muwang' or King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty alludes to a folktale when the King dreamed of being an Immortal. According to the story, the King was determined to visit the heavenly paradise and taste the peaches of immortality. A brave charioteer named Zaofu used his chariot to carry the king to his destination. During these travels the emperor's chariot was pulled by eight horses named after the colour of their hair. In other accounts, the horses' names reflected their unusual talents such as horse that gallops without touching the ground'.