Lot Essay
It is very rare to find Tang-dynasty equestrian figures with the horses decorated in brown and pale green glazes; chestnut and cream-tone glazes are more commonly found. While large horses of the period are known to have been covered in the dark brown-chestnut glaze, it is unusual to find on an equestrian figure of this smaller size. For a few other rare examples of related equestrian figures with brown and pale green-glazed horses see: Christie’s New York, 15-16 March 2015, lot 3228, for a rare dark-chestnut piebald example; He Li, Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, pp. 100-101, no. 185, for a brown-glazed example; J.P. Desroches, Compagnons d’éternité, Paris, 1996, p. 211, for a pale-green-glazed version not as richly applied as the present example.