NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)

Details

A RARE PAINTED RED POTTERY HORSE
Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
Slab-built with knife-cut legs and shown standing foursquare on a rectangular plinth, the head modelled with deeply hollowed nostrils and diagonal slash marks above and below the large wedge-shaped staring eyes detailed in black and white, the black mane bound into a horn-like crest projecting between the forward-pricked ears and striped in white, with flattened circular medallions applied to the black bridle and further black and incised trappings indicated on the stocky, brick-red painted body, the molded saddle hung with a heavy rectangular cloth stiffly flared at the sides and painted in the center with a red rectangle on a white slip field, traces of black pigment on the thick, rectangular tail
18½in. (47cm.) long

Provenance

Christie's, New York, 3 June 1993, lot 169.

Lot Essay

Compare to the drawings of a similar painted pottery horse illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 8, 1955, p. 268, fig. 301. Compare, also, the similarly modelled horses with riders, also of Northern Wei date, included in the exhibition, The Quest for Eternity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987, nos. 39-41.

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 466Y67 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

More from Fine Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Ceramics and Works of Art

View All