A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE
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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE

TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Details
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The horse is shown standing on a slab base with ears pricked and head turned slightly to the left, covered with a pale cream glaze, while the mane and tail with an amber glaze. The harness is hung with green-glazed tassels, and the saddle cloth is washed with vermilion pigment.
22 1/8 in. (56.2 cm.) high
Provenance
Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 8 April 1948, lot 293
A New York private collection
Sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1614

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Marco Almeida (安偉達)
Marco Almeida (安偉達) SVP, Senior International Specialist, Head of Department & Head of Private Sales

Lot Essay

The present sancai horse is very well-modelled and successfully imparts a sense of realism and subtle movement, revealing the technical accomplishment and stylistic maturity of Chinese ceramic sculpture at the peak of the Tang dynasty. The horse itself was a potent image during the vigorous expansion of the Tang ‘golden age’. The ceramic horses of the Tang dynasty were either decorated with sancai (three-color) glazes, like the current example, or were unglazed and cold-painted. Both techniques were extremely successful. The distribution of sancai glazes on the present horse emphasizes the horses’ powerful bodies and elaborate sprig-molded trappings. Compare the similarly glazed figure of a horse, with cream-glazed body, green-glazed tassels, amber-glazed mane and unglazed saddle and saddle cloth was sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lot 412. Another example of similar size is in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, no. 198.

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 166m40 (4 December 1974) is consistent with the dating of this lot.

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