AN IMPORTANT GROUP OF EIGHT PAINTED POTTERY FIGURES OF EQUESTRIAN HUNTERS

TANG DYNASTY

Details

AN IMPORTANT GROUP OF EIGHT PAINTED POTTERY FIGURES OF EQUESTRIAN HUNTERS
Tang Dynasty
Well modeled with great naturalism, the riders of various ethnic types shown seated astride horses standing foursquare on rectangular bases, two of the riders holding a slender, whippet-like dog in their arms, two riders with a leopard cub seated behind them, one of the cubs being steadied by the protective, outstretched hand of the rider as he turns sharply to the other side, another animated rider with a lion cub perched behind, two riders equipped with quivers and the eighth with a rolled cloth tied around his waist, all but one of the men with his hair gathered up under a black cap, the other with his hair pulled back in two segments tied behind his head, and all wearing a three-quarter-length tunic secured by a narrow leather belt hung with pendent tabs
14 to 15in. (36.2 to 38.1cm.) high, boxes (8)

Lot Essay

This unusual equestrian group not only depicts in detail some of the paraphernalia used by hunters during the Tang dynasty, but also depicts the care with which these highly valued animals were tended. For a similar group of figures unearthed from the tomb of a Tang dynasty official and his wife on the eastern outskirts of Xian, Shaanxi province see Bao Quan, 'Pottery Mounted Hunters', Connoisseur, Summer 1996, pp. 16-27. As with the present figures, they too represent some of the various ethnic types present in China during this period, as well as the different animals involved in the hunt; including a leopard, another feline, a dog and hawks.

For a gray pottery equestrian hunter, this one a foreigner with beard, with a dog seated on the horse's rump, see Zhongguo meishu quanji; diaosu; Sui Tang diaosu (The Great Treasury of Chinese Art; Sculpture; Sui Tang Scuplture), Beijing, 1988, vol. 4, p. 121.

The results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test nos. C198h66 and C198h67 are consistent with the dating of this lot