A LARGE AND RARE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED FEREGHAN HORSE

Details

A LARGE AND RARE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAPARISONED FEREGHAN HORSE
TANG DYNASTY

Superbly modeled standing with head turned slightly to the left, with ears pricked and mouth open, glazed predominantly in chestnut with a cream-colored blaze running from the poll to the muzzle and with a further large cream splash on the near shoulder, with a long naturalistic mane covered in a cream-colored glaze falling over the near side of the powerful neck and incised with grooves to simulate the thick hair, the green-glazed saddle cloth deeply scored and roughened to simulate fur, with green-glazed, foliate-molded plaques pendent from the halter, breast and crupper straps, the hoofs and docked tail applied with a straw glaze
29in. (73.7cm.) high

Literature

The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics I, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 90

Lot Essay

Sancai horses of this rare type are distinguished by their realistically modeled manes, the foliate-based 'metal' trappings and simulated-fur saddle blankets. A comparable example was included in the Min Chu Society exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1980, Catalogue, no. 13. See, also, Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, Stamford, Connecticut, 1977, Catalogue, vol. II, col. pl. V; Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 202; Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 1, Tokyo National Museum, col. pl. 64; Prodan, The Art of the Tang Potter, New York, 1960, col. pl. 1, in the Count Cesore Cicogna Collection; and Kaogu, 1972, no. 3, pl. 8, fig. 2, from Henan

Foliate-derived plaques rather than tassel trappings appear in a variety of forms and multiples. The present type has been labeled 'hazel-leaf' or 'apricot-leaf'. For actual examples of similar gilt-bronze ornaments unearthed from the tomb of Princess Yongtai, buried in A.D. 706, see Yutaka Mino and James Robinson, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, Catalogue, pl. 61, fig. E; Eskenazi, Tang, June 9-July 3, 1987, Catalogue, no. 10 for an equestrian design; and the line drawings in Wenwu, 1981, no. 10, p. 85, figs. 1-8

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 866b45 is consistent with the dating of this lot