A RARE BLUE AND SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN EQUESTRIAN

TANG DYNASTY

Details

A RARE BLUE AND SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN EQUESTRIAN
Tang Dynasty
The well-modeled rider wearing long robes unusually glazed a deep grey blue, his hands hidden within the long sleeves which are touched with amber on the interior, his unglazed head modeled with small, delicate features in a full face beneath a soft cap pulled forward on top, seated astride a well-proportioned horse covered in a finely crackled straw glaze highlighted in amber on the cheeks, neck, hogged mane, legs, rump and tail, and with streaks of blue, amber and green glaze on the saddle blanket, traces of red and black detailing
13.5/8in. (34.6cm.) high

Lot Essay

The liberal use of blue glaze on the clothing of this rider, as well as the fineness of his modeling separate him in quality from most equestrian figures that have been published. For another finely modeled equestrian with blue-glazed tunic see Eskenazi, Animals and animal designs in Chinese art, New York, 24 March - 4 April 1998, Catalogue, no. 19. These two riders also have their hair drawn up under a similar cap or putuo.

Compare, also, the equestrian of comparable size wearing the same style of tunic, which along with the pants is glazed blue, as with the present rider, excavated in 1971 from the tomb of Prince Yide in Qian county, Shaanxi province, now in the Qianling Museum, Shaanxi, and included in the exhibition, The Quest for Eternity, Los Angeles County Museum, 15 October 1987 - 3 January 1988, Catalogue, pp. 57 and 134, no. 72.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C198x76 is consistent with the dating of this lot.