A LARGE WELL-MODELED FIGURE OF A PRANCING HORSE TANG DYNASTY

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

Details

A LARGE WELL-MODELED FIGURE OF A PRANCING HORSE TANG DYNASTY

The well-proportioned horse modeled with head faintly turned to the left and right foreleg raised, the face crisply detailed and the ears pricked back either side of the groove in the powerful, arched neck, with some red and black pigment detailing the facial features, some restoration
23½in. (59.7cm.) long

Lot Essay

A very similar horse was discovered in the tomb of Li Siben, who died in 675, but whose tomb was not completed until 709. See Kaogu, 1986, no. 5, p. 439, fig. 16 and an example with a saddle is illustrated by R.L. Hobson in The George Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue, vol. I, London, 1925, pl. XXXII, no. 234. Compare, also, a similar horse sold together with a groom in these rooms, December 2, 1989, lot 124, and another sold June 4, 1992, lot 216