TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

The Tang nobility were legendary for their love of horses, so much so that the court passed a law in 667 that allowed only members of the elite to ride. Noble families might own literally thousands of horses, with different types for use in the cavalry, for hunting and polo. The present figure is particularly rare both for its size and for the depiction of the piebald markings. A glazed caparisoned horse painted with pale circular markings is in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, and illustrated in the Handbook of the Collection, New York, 1993, p. 292 (right). Another glazed piebald or dappled horse is in the Kyoto National Museum and illustrated by Li Zhi Yan, The Art of Glazed Pottery of China, Beijing, 1989, p. 48, pl. 191. See, also, V. Bower, "Two Masterworks of Tang Sculpture", Orientations, June, 1993, p. 77, fig. 15, where the author illustrates a late 7th century wall painting from a tomb in Taiyuan, Shaanxi province depicting a groom with a dark-spotted pale horse.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C100s35 is consistent with the dating of this lot.