Lot 238
238
A GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED HORSE

Details
A GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED HORSE
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

The sturdy horse standing foursquare with head drawn in and mouth open, with a narrow fringed cloth draped over the top of the crenelated mane, the halter with a horn and circular bosses, with further nippled bosses on the chest strap and pendant trappings on the straps spanning the rump, the flared mud guards incised with stirrups and diagonal markings perhaps imitating fur, traces of reddish earth encrustation, restored--10 1/2 in. (26.7cm.) long

Lot Essay

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 566n57 is consistent with the dating of this lot

The elaborately caparisoned horse is recognizably that of an important personage. It has been suggested that the trimming of the mane in these notched patterns may be associated with royal ownership in the Tang Dynasty, cf. Jan Fontein and Tong Wu, Unearthing China's Past, Boston, 1973, p. 172. It is interesting to note that this type of equine grooming appears to have had its origins in the Six Dynasties period