Lot Essay
It is unusual to find a pair of male and female polo players. For a similar pair, with male and female riders, but with horses striding forward, see those excavated from Luoyang and illustrated by Qin Tinyu, Zhongguo Gudai Taoshu Yishu (Chinese Sculpture and Art), Beijing, 1957, nos.46 and 47. See also a pair sold in our New York Rooms, 18 September 1997, lot 136.
For similar examples of polo players on galloping horses, usually groups of court ladies or more rarely foreigners, see examples of four of the former in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, referred to in the Handbook of the Collections, Kansas City, 1959, p.208; and also M. Medley, Tang Pottery and Porcelain, pl.41, p.51. A similar pair of polo players was sold in our New York Rooms, 9 November 1978, lot 117; a set of three sold, 30 May 1991, lot 263. For the latter, see the rare group of four foreigners sold, 16 September 1998, lot 309A. See also examples exhibited at the Oriental Ceramic Society, Chinese Ceramic Figures, 1947, Catalogue no.52; and the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935, Catalogue p.223, no.2432 for the Eumorfopoulos example now in the British Museum; also M. Prodan, The Art of the T'ang Potter, pl.71.
For a general discussion on polo players in Tang China and further examples of pottery polo players, see the Catalogue of the exhibition, Power and Virtue, The Horse in Chinese Art, China Institute Gallery, New York, 1997.
For similar examples of polo players on galloping horses, usually groups of court ladies or more rarely foreigners, see examples of four of the former in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, referred to in the Handbook of the Collections, Kansas City, 1959, p.208; and also M. Medley, Tang Pottery and Porcelain, pl.41, p.51. A similar pair of polo players was sold in our New York Rooms, 9 November 1978, lot 117; a set of three sold, 30 May 1991, lot 263. For the latter, see the rare group of four foreigners sold, 16 September 1998, lot 309A. See also examples exhibited at the Oriental Ceramic Society, Chinese Ceramic Figures, 1947, Catalogue no.52; and the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935, Catalogue p.223, no.2432 for the Eumorfopoulos example now in the British Museum; also M. Prodan, The Art of the T'ang Potter, pl.71.
For a general discussion on polo players in Tang China and further examples of pottery polo players, see the Catalogue of the exhibition, Power and Virtue, The Horse in Chinese Art, China Institute Gallery, New York, 1997.