NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)

細節

A Grey Pottery Figure of a Caparisoned Horse
Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
The sturdy horse standing foursquare with neck arched, head drawn into the chest and mouth open, with a narrow, fringed cloth draped over the top of the crenelated mane, the bridle decorated with a horn and circular bosses, with further bosses on the chest strap and pendent trappings on the straps spanning the haunches, the flared mud guards incised with stirrups and diagonal markings probably imitating fur, and with further incised hair markings on the knife-cut tail, traces of reddish earth encrustation
9 7/8in. (25.1cm.) high

來源

Christie's New York, 23 March 1995, Chinese Ceramics from the Scheinman Collection, lot 32.

展覽

Born of Earth and Fire, Chinese Ceramics from the Scheinman Collection, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1992, no. 30.

拍品專文

This 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. See Jon Fontein and Tung Wu, Unearthing China's Past, Boston, 1973, pl. 172. The modeling of the mane on this horse shows that this particular style of trimming was already established in the Six Dynasties period. For further discussion of this practice see Sun Ji, "The Equestrian Gear and Ornament of the Tang Dynasty", Chinese Archeological Abstracts, 4, Post Han, Los Angeles, 1985, p. 1782, where the author notes that the term for three tufts of hair in a notched mane is sanhua, and that the practice was already indicated in examples of Qin and Han date.