A WELL-MODELED AMBER-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE

Details
A WELL-MODELED AMBER-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE
TANG DYNASTY

Well-proportioned and shown standing foursquare with ears pricked alertly forward, the head turned slightly to the left and pulled tautly in towards the arched neck, with a groove for the attachment of a hair mane and a hole for the tail, the body covered in an amber glaze, the the blaze and the hoofs glazed a cream color streaked in amber (some restoration)
19¾in. (50.2cm.) long

Lot Essay

Compare the horse from the Count de Grunne Collection included in the exhibition, The Ceramic Art of China, June 9-July 25, 1971, Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue, no. 47, and illustrated in T.O.C.S, vol. 38, 1969-71, pl. 32, no. 47. See, also, the horse included in The Inaugural Exhibition: Early Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Eskenazi Ltd., London, March 1, 1972, Catalogue, no. 25

For a discussion of such horses without trappings, refer to William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York, 1984, p. 200, where it is mentioned that on such bare animals, the harness and caparison were probably made of perishable materials which have since disintegrated. See also Thorp and Bower, Spirit and Ritual: The Morse Collection of Ancient Chinese Art, New York, 1982, pp. 66-67, where there is also mention of bronze ornaments that were found near unadorned horse figurines

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 766h98 is consistent with the dating of this lot