Monkey on a horse

A Tang gilt bronze

The Dingzhou Museum holds a gilt-bronze figure of a monkey on a horse from the Tang dynasty.

To verify: A museum record or object number for the Dingzhou figure

A picture-pun

In Chinese, “monkey” (hou) sounds like “marquis” (hou), and “on horseback” (ma shang) also means “at once”. So the picture reads ma shang feng hou: to be made a marquis right away. People read it as a wish for an early promotion.

How we tell it

We tell it as a traditional picture for an early promotion, and leave the promotion to you.