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Lot Essay
This beautifully modeled horse with its well-preserved cream glaze captures the spriit and power of this celebrated animal. Horses are among the most admired animals in China, where they are seen as representing strength, speed and endurance. The most magnificent horses, immortalised in Chinese literature and the visual arts, were the Ferghana horses introduced into central China from the West during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). These were the so-called 'celestial' horses, also sometimes known as 'blood-sweating' horses, known for their speed, power and stamina. The renowned court artist Han Gan (720-60) changed the nature of Chinese horse painting when he depicted one of Emperor Xuanzong's (r. 847-59) favorite horses, Night-Shining White (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art), in a realistic, rather than supernatural manner. This development parallels the realism of Tang arts in general, exemplified by this magnificent horse.
Elaborately caparisoned sancai horses of this imposing size are found in two postures: standing foursquare facing forward and foursquare with the head turned to the left and ears cocked. The present horse is modeled in the latter, more graceful and animated pose. Compare the Ferghana horse of the first type from the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund sold at Sotheby's London, 12 December 1989, lot 56.
Sancai horses of this rare type are distinguished by their realistically-modeled manes, foliate-based 'metal' trappings and simulated-fur saddle blankets. A comparable example was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1980, no. 13. See, also, E. Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, Stamford, Connecticut, 1977, vol. II, col. pl. V; Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 202; Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. I, Tokyo National Museum, col. pl. 64; M. Prodan, The Art of the Tang Potter, New York, 1960, col. pl. 1, in the Count Cesore Cicogna Collection; and Kaogu:1972, no. 3, pl. 8, fig. 2, from Henan.
The distinctive striped mane adds a refined finish to the elegant, cream-glazed body of this horse. Two published horses sharing the same striped mane and green-glazed textured saddle cloth, though with less elaborate trappings, are illustrated in Zhongguo wuqiannian wenwu jikan; Tang sancai Part II, 1984, fig. 146; and by Li Zhiyan, The Art of Glazed Pottery of China, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 51, fig. 201.
The elaborate trappings characteristically show the influence of Sassanian art on that of 8th century China. The complex, jewel-like decorations applied to the harness of this horse are mirrored in other Chinese decorative arts of the period. The present foliate plaques are known as 'hazel leaf' or 'apricot leaf.' For actual examples of similar gilt-bronze ornaments unearthed from the tomb of Princess Yongtai, buried in 706, see Y. Mino and J. Robinsion, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pl. 61, fig. E.
Elaborately caparisoned sancai horses of this imposing size are found in two postures: standing foursquare facing forward and foursquare with the head turned to the left and ears cocked. The present horse is modeled in the latter, more graceful and animated pose. Compare the Ferghana horse of the first type from the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund sold at Sotheby's London, 12 December 1989, lot 56.
Sancai horses of this rare type are distinguished by their realistically-modeled manes, foliate-based 'metal' trappings and simulated-fur saddle blankets. A comparable example was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1980, no. 13. See, also, E. Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, Stamford, Connecticut, 1977, vol. II, col. pl. V; Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 202; Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. I, Tokyo National Museum, col. pl. 64; M. Prodan, The Art of the Tang Potter, New York, 1960, col. pl. 1, in the Count Cesore Cicogna Collection; and Kaogu:1972, no. 3, pl. 8, fig. 2, from Henan.
The distinctive striped mane adds a refined finish to the elegant, cream-glazed body of this horse. Two published horses sharing the same striped mane and green-glazed textured saddle cloth, though with less elaborate trappings, are illustrated in Zhongguo wuqiannian wenwu jikan; Tang sancai Part II, 1984, fig. 146; and by Li Zhiyan, The Art of Glazed Pottery of China, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 51, fig. 201.
The elaborate trappings characteristically show the influence of Sassanian art on that of 8th century China. The complex, jewel-like decorations applied to the harness of this horse are mirrored in other Chinese decorative arts of the period. The present foliate plaques are known as 'hazel leaf' or 'apricot leaf.' For actual examples of similar gilt-bronze ornaments unearthed from the tomb of Princess Yongtai, buried in 706, see Y. Mino and J. Robinsion, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pl. 61, fig. E.