No other comparable figure of a grazing horse with rider appears to be published. Other examples of separately made horse and rider, where the rider is seated on a saddle quite similar to the present example with its pronounced bow in front were made during the Late Six Dynasties period. Compare the two gray pottery examples: one with a male rider, the other with a female rider, illustrated by Ezekiel Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture from Han to T'ang, vol. II, Stamford, Connecticut, 1977, pls. 49 and 51 A and B. In both of these figures the modeling of the riders is quite similar to that of the present example
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no C97a77 is consistent with the dating of this lot