Page 209 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

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A RARE PAIR OF PAINTED POTTERY FIGURES OF FEMALE
EQUESTRIENNES
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
Each female rider is shown seated with body inclined slightly
forward, with one hand placed on the front of the saddle and the
other on the hogged mane as she controls the spirited horse shown
rearing slightly with one foreleg raised. She wears a short, low-
bodiced jacket over a blouse with long sleeves and a long skirt, one
striped in red, and a wide-brimmed hat (weimao) tied with ribbons
that trail down her back. There are traces of red, orange-red and
black pigments, with red spots on the rump of one horse.
11Ω in. (29.2 cm.) high
$8,000-12,000
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s London, 13 December 1983, lot 102.
The attire of these two female riders, especially the black, wide-brimmed
hat (weimao) meant to protect the rider’s face, fnd their origins in Northern
China. Female equestriennes wearing the wide-brimmed hat (weimao) are
very rare. This type of hat, which was worn with a veil, is more usually seen
on painted, straw-glazed equestrienne fgures, where the horse is shown
standing foresquare rather than in the unusual prancing pose of the present
horses. A fne example of the straw-glazed type is the fgure from the tomb
of Zheng Rentai, Liquan county, Shaanxi province, which is dated AD 664,
and illustrated by James C. Watt et al., China: Dawn of the Golden Age, 200-
750 AD, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, p. 291, no. 183.
The skirt of the rider is striped, as is the skirt of one of the two present riders,
and the rump of the horse is painted with red spots, as is the rump of one
of the present horses, refecting the popularity of piebald horses in China.
(2) Both the straw-glazed horse and the present painted pottery horses are also
similar, although the straw-glazed horse has a long mane, while the manes
of the present horses are hogged. Another straw-glazed example in The
Minneapolis Institute of Arts is illustrated by R. D. Jacobsen in the booklet,
The Asian Galleries, 1982.
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 366h94 is consistent with
the dating of this lot.
唐 彩繪陶騎馬女俑一對
(detail)
207