A PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED HORSE

Details

A PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED HORSE
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

The horse standing foursquare with head drawn in to the chest, the bridle molded as finely ribbed bands studded with bosses adjacent to an additional braided loop around the neck from which tasseled trappings hang, the chest strap with further bosses embellished with flowerheads, the length of the elegantly curved neck demarcated by a red-painted wavy band connected by painted loops across the front, probably to indicate further ceremonial trappings, the red straps across the haunches with pendent trefoil decoration, the flared mudguards covered with a thick fringed cloth twisted at the ends
10¼in. (26in.) high

Lot Essay

Compare the very similar Northern Wei horse excavated in 1965 in Panlongzhong cun, Luoyang, Henan province, now in the Luoyang Provincial Museum, illustrated Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Diaosu ; Wei Jin Nan Bei Chao,, (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts, Sculpture, Wei, Jin, Norther and Southern Dynasties Sculpture), vol. 3, Beijing, 1988, p. 133, no. 111

A variation on these Northern Wei horses is another type with the same body form of arched neck and attenuated legs, but in addition, or instead of the painted and impressed decoration, have incised motifs on the mudguard and along the neck. An example of this kind was sold in these rooms, November 27, 1991, lot 264

Another example from Aurelius Parenti Collection, was sold in these rooms, Une 3, 1988, lot 188

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 766u32 is consistent with the dating of this lot