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Lot Essay
This superbly modeled horse ranks amongst the finest of this group of Northern Wei grey pottery horse figures. It is remarkable for the delicacy of the modeling of the ornaments and head, as well as details such as the elegantly folded and fringed saddle cloth, the textured saddle flap likely imitating fur, and the retention of rare blue pigment.
This horse and others like it reflect the type of idealized horse and the type of trappings that were popular during the Wei dynasty. The same type of horse and trappings are depicted in a drawing of a caparisoned horse carved on a stone relief dated to the Northern dynasties illustrated by Sun Ji in Wenwu, 1981:10, pp. 82-88, 96, 'The Equestrian Gear and Ornament of the Tang Dynasty', and translated with a reproduced illustration by Dien, Riegel and Price in Chinese Archaeological Abstracts, vol. 4, Los Angeles, 1984, p. 1785, fig. 4 (1). This elegant horse is also similar to one illustrated in Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, Berlin, 1929, p. 125, no. 278, from Yamanaka, London, which also has a pendent bell or tassel at the chin and a elegantly twisted saddle cloth.
This horse and others like it reflect the type of idealized horse and the type of trappings that were popular during the Wei dynasty. The same type of horse and trappings are depicted in a drawing of a caparisoned horse carved on a stone relief dated to the Northern dynasties illustrated by Sun Ji in Wenwu, 1981:10, pp. 82-88, 96, 'The Equestrian Gear and Ornament of the Tang Dynasty', and translated with a reproduced illustration by Dien, Riegel and Price in Chinese Archaeological Abstracts, vol. 4, Los Angeles, 1984, p. 1785, fig. 4 (1). This elegant horse is also similar to one illustrated in Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, Berlin, 1929, p. 125, no. 278, from Yamanaka, London, which also has a pendent bell or tassel at the chin and a elegantly twisted saddle cloth.