A RARE WELL-MODELED PAINTED RED POTTERY FIGURE OF A PRANCING HORSE

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A RARE WELL-MODELED PAINTED RED POTTERY FIGURE OF A PRANCING HORSE
TANG DYNASTY

Spiritedly modeled with right foreleg raised and head turned tautly to the left, the mouth open, the ears pricked and the arched neck grooved for a mane, with an unusual saddle cloth built up with applied cones of clay in imitation of thick fur draped across the back, traces of dark red, black and white pigment, restored--20 in. (51cm.) high

Lot Essay

For a buff pottery example of a prancing horse with this rare textured saddle cloth see the figure included in the Royal Ontario Museum exhibition, Silk Roads-China Ships, 1983, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 69 (left)

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 666e31 is consistent with the dating of this lot