This docile horse is carved in a rarely seen stretched position similar to that recorded in a line drawing illustrating one of the five-coloured horses of the Tang dynasty emperor Xuanzong in Gu Yu Tu (reproduced in Shuo Yu p. 611) The very fine naturalistic carving is consistent with a Song dating. Morgan illustrates a similar horse in Dr Newton's Zoo Catalogue, no. 47, and describes the stone as "opaque grey, mottled with brownish striations, the surface slightly pitted" a description which also applies to the present lot. Further both carvings have similar rounded haunches and the same treatment of the incised mane "falling evenly to either side with a central parting".

Watt Chinese Jade from Han to Ch'ing, no. 65 illustrates a similar horse on a slab in the Victor Shaw Collection which he dates to the Tang dynasty. Another example is in the McElney Collection illustrated in Jades from China, no. 232, where the author draws five parallels with Southern Song paintings and Spirit Road Sculptures.