"Perfectly balanced," says one authority, "on the one hoof which rests without pressure on a flying swallow, it is a remarkable example of three-dimensional form and of animal portraiture with the head vividly expressing mettlesome vigor.

[1] The discovery was made by a team of locals who had been told to dig air-raid shelters in the case of an imminent war with the Soviet Union.

During the excavations, they found a chamber under a monastery which held a group of over 200 bronze figurines of men, horses, and chariots, which they put in plastic bags and took home.

The archaeologists determined that the opulent tomb was that of a Han dynasty army general who had been given the important task of maintaining imperial frontier defenses.

[4] The horse in the bronze is a breed brought back from Fergana by a punitive expedition sent by Emperor Han Wudi in 104 BCE.