A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED HORSE

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Details

A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED HORSE
TANG DYNASTY

The well-proportioned horse shown standing foursquare on a rectangular base with head attentively raised and turned slightly to the left and ears pricked as if listening, the projecting forelock and mane deeply scored beneath a straw glaze, the amber glaze of the body streaked in green and cream draining from the florette-molded straps and halter hung with apricot leaf plaques, with reddish-orange pigment on the saddle cloth set over layered, unglazed saddle blankets
25½in. (64.8cm.) high

Lot Essay

A horse with a similar treatment of the mane and head but with a glazed saddle is illustrated by Yutaka Mino and James Robinson in the exhibition, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, Catalogue, pp. 174-5, pl. 61. The authors note that similar horses have been found in Tang tombs dated to the early part of the eighth century. One was unearthed from the tomb of Prince Yide in Quianxian, Shaanxi province. The tomb is dated 706 AD

Another similar horse of more stocky proportions is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 77, no. 207

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 866b72 is consistent with the dating of this lot