Tiger Pan designs 2026 Year of the Horse stamp for UNPA

Shenzhen designer Pan Hu, known as Tiger Pan, has designed the 2026 Year of the Horse stamp for United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA).

The design draws on the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) bronze item “Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow.” The steed is shown with its forehooves raised and hind legs planted, conveying a powerful beauty that balances dynamic motion and stillness.

The 2026 Year of the Horse stamps designed by Tiger Pan for United Nations Postal Administration. Photos courtesy of Tiger Pan

Visually, the composition references Dunhuang-style caisson ceilings, with central symmetry, radial expansion and layered progression. As traditionally decorative dome motifs in temple architecture, caissons evoke the cosmos, time and divinity. In the stamp, they are deconstructed and reinterpreted as a geometric arena in which the horse gallops, merging the animal’s vigor with deep cultural heritage and creating a dialogue between tradition and modernity, movement and repose.

Stylistically, the stamp uses contemporary illustration techniques — planar composition and vector graphics — to emphasize decorative and symbolic expression. The horse’s form is built from intersecting collages woven with geometric patterns and traditional motifs, combining the all-over compositional sensibility of Eastern art with the clarity of modern visual design.

The 2026 Year of the Horse stamps designed by Tiger Pan for United Nations Postal Administration.

The palette is drawn from mineral-derived Dunhuang hues — ochre yellow, peacock blue, lotus pink and brick red — restoring the warm, textured quality of ancient murals while lending the horse a strong sense of historical depth and ethnic character.

Pan offers this design as a hopeful message: “May we, like this red steed, stride toward a brighter, more peaceful and prosperous future.”

An official artist for the UNPA, Pan previously designed Year of the Dog, Year of the Tiger, Year of the Rabbit, Year of the Dragon and Year of the Snake stamps. With more than two decades in product packaging design, he has created work for prominent brands including Luckin Coffee, Mengniu and Tsingtao.