Page 201 - Christie's Chinese Works of Art March 24 and 25th, 2022 NYC

ANOTHER PROPERTY
ⱷ1059
A VERY WELL-MODELED BLUE AND
SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A
CAPARISONED HORSE
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The horse is shown standing four-square on a
rectangular base with head harnessed and turned
slightly to the left, with rakish forelock swept back
beneath pricked ears. The back carries a heavily
textured saddle blanket molded in imitation
of fur and covered in a blue glaze. The floret
trappings and the chest and crupper straps are
crisply molded with suspended heart-shaped
leaf medallions picked out in straw and bright
green glazes. The body of the horse is glazed in a
rich amber, which pools around the hooves. The
bulging unglazed eyes show traces of pigment.
18¿ in. (46 cm.) high, cloth box

$200,000-300,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Hong Kong, September 1982.
The sancai or ‘three-color’ glaze was developed
during the seventh century when Tang-dynasty
potters were experimenting with the lively tones
of green, amber and yellow. The cobalt-blue
glaze, as seen on the saddle of this horse, was
an expensive import from the Middle East at the
time and was reserved for objects of the highest
quality. On this example it is luxuriously used to
completely cover the saddle, which is textured to
imitate fur.

The present horse is distinguished by its
luxurious trappings, which are finely rendered and
glazed, as well as by its handsome proportions
and its lustrous, well-preserved glaze. It is of a
somewhat more unusual, smaller scale than other
more widely published horses with the more
common green-glazed textured saddles, such as
the 73 cm. long example in the Tokyo National
Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The
World's Great Collections, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1982, col.
pl. 64. Tang-dynasty pottery horses with the
inclusion of the blue glaze are considerably rare.
A very finely modeled pair of smaller-scale glazed
pottery horses (15 in. high) in the David W. Dewey
Collection features one amber-glazed horse with
an amber-glazed textured saddle and blue-glazed
details on the fittings and a cropped mane as
seen on the present horse, and one cream-glazed
horse with the saddle, cloth and fittings featuring
blue-glazed details, illustrated by R. Jacobsen
in Celestial Horses and Long Sleeve Dancers,
The David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Tomb
Sculpture, Minneapolis, 2013, pp. 230-231.
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no.
C122c29 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

唐 三彩陶馬
來源:
1982年9月入藏於香港
此器經牛津熱釋光測年法測試(測試編號C122c29)，
證實與本圖錄之斷代符合
198 199