Discovered in Yemen in more than eighty pieces, this bronze horse was artfully recomposed into the spirited animal displayed today. Fragments of a matching horse were subsequently uncovered confirming the mention of two horses and their riders in an incised inscription on this horse’s shoulder. The pair of statues may have flanked and protected the entrance to a temple precinct or a temple doorway.

The three inscriptions on the horse are in Himyaritic, an ancient language of southwestern Arabia. This land, strategically located along the sea and landroutes between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, controlled a large part of the luxury trade in frankincense, myrrh, and spices. The wealth derived from this trade and the connections with the Roman Empire fostered a taste for cast-bronze sculpture, not a local art form but a revered medium of artistic expression in Mediterranean culture. In particular, equestrian figures symbolized the elite status of those who were represented; in this case, the two riders may have been adaptations of the Roman gods Castor and Pollux. The figure on a rearing horse also had an inherent reference to the indomitable hero Alexander the Great, who was often shown this way in Hellenistic and Roman sculpture.

Though less than life size, this rearing horse projects the imposing character of many larger bronzes that have survived from antiquity. It seems to breathe forcefully through its wide nostrils and be balanced between unruly movement, observed in its flexed muscles, and docility, revealed by the curves of flesh around the open mouth indicating the bridle that once guided it. The sculptor has succeeded in the rare feat of displaying the horse’s dynamic character by capturing the fleeting moment between action and elegant form.

- S. Zwirn

H. Schlobies, "Hellenistisch-römische Denkmäler in Südarabien," Forschungen und Fortschritte 10.19 (1934): 242-43, esp. 243.

The Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection of Harvard University, Handbook of the Collection, (Washington, D.C., 1946), 18, no. 3, fig. p. 28.

"Reawakening at Dumbarton Oaks: The Golden Glories of the Byzantine and Early Christian Worlds," Art News 45.10.1 (1946): 15-19; 57-59, esp. 17, fig. 1.

J. Pijoán, Arte islámico, Summa artis, historia general del arte 12, 1. ed. (Madrid, 1949), 10, fig. 20.

G. Libertine, Annuario della Scuola archeologica di Atene e delle missioni italiane in Oriente 30-32 (1952-54), esp. 381, fig. 12.

A. Jamme, "Inscriptions on the Sabaean Bronze Horse of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954): 317-30, fig. 37-42.

The Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University, (Washington, D.C., 1955), 12, no. 16, fig. p. 26.

J. Pirenne, La Grèce et Saba. Une nouvelle base pour la chronologie sud-arabe, Mémoires présentés pars divers savants à l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 15 (Paris, 1955), 63-65, pl. 8.

J. Pirenne, Paléographie des inscriptions sud-arabes; contribution à la chronologie et à l'histoire de l'Arabie du sud antique, Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Akademie voor Wetenschafen, Letberen en Schone Kunsten van Belgie, Klasse der Letberen, Verhandeling 26 (Brussels, 1956), 114-115, 268-272.

G. M. A. Richter, Catalogue of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Dumbarton Oaks Catalogues (Cambridge, 1956), 26-28, no. 15, pl. 10.

A. Jamme, Note on the Dating of the Bronze Horse of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, (unpublished manuscript, Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C., 1957).

H. v. Roques de Maumont, Antike Reiterstandbilder, (Berlin, 1958), 72-76 n. 41, 98, fig. 39.

J. Ryckmans, "L'Apparition du cheval en Arabie ancienne," Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 17 (1963): 211-26, esp. 214-219.

Handbook of the Byzantine Collection, (Washington, D.C., 1967), 4-5, no. 14.

J. Ryckmans, "Notes sur le cheval de bronze de Dumbarton Oaks," Revue des archéologues et historiens d'art de Louvain 6 (1973): 38-74.

J. Ryckmans, Rapport préliminairesur le cheval de bronze de Dumbarton Oaks, (unpublished manuscript, Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C., 1973).

P. Costa, "Note su Alcuni Pezzi del Museo Nazionale dello Yemen a San'a," Annali dell'Istituto universitario orientale di Napoli 34 (1974): 286-89.

J. Ryckmans, "The Pre-Islamic South Arabian Bronze Horse in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 29 (1975): 285-303.

J. Pirenne, "Cheval de bronze hellenistique à tète sud-arabe," in Corpus des inscriptions et Antiquités sud-arabes 1.1 (Louvain, 1977), 373-86.

J. Ryckmans, "Some Technical Aspects of the Inscribed South Arabian Bronze Inscriptions Cast in Relief," Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 8 (1978): 53-65.

M. Lyttelton, "The Pre-Islamic South Arabian Bronze Horse in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection Reconsidered," Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 21 (1991): 147-56.

P. Yule, Himyar: Spätantike im Jemen = Late Antique Yemen, (Aichwald, 2007).

G. Bühl, ed., Dumbarton Oaks: The Collections (Washington, D.C., 2008), 26, pl. p. 27.

R. Stupperich and P. A. Yule, "Himyarite Period Bronze Sculptural Groups from the Yemenite Highlands," in Issledovaniya po Arabii i Islamy (Arabian and Islamic Studies; A Collection of Papers in honor of Mikhail Borishovich Petrovikj on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, ed. A. Sedov (Moscow, 2014), 338-67, esp. 350-362, fig. 9-11, tables 3, 4.

New York, Iranian Institute, "Six Thousand Years of Persian Art," April 24, 1940 - June 1940.

Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, "Caravan Kingdoms: Yemen and the Ancient Incense Trade," June 25 - Sept. 18, 2005.

Washington, D.C., Freer Gallery of Art & the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, “Ancient and Medieval Metalwork from Dumbarton Oaks,” Dec. 16, 2005 – Apr. 1, 2007.

Said to have found been south of Sana’a, Yemen. Maurice Nahman (1868–1948), Cairo, until July 1930.

Purchased from Nahman by Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (inventory P7095).

Purchased from Brummer by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, DC, February - March 1938.

Transferred to Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C., November 1940.