Page 82 - 2020 September Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonham NYC

195
A LARGE CHESTNUT-GLAZED POTTERY HORSE
Tang dynasty The present lot is unusual for its size and exemplifies the finest of Tang
The magnificent steed naturalistically modeled standing foursquare dynasty sculptural art. The horse is modeled in a life-like manner with
on a rectangular base, the head with pricked ears pulled in slightly realistic musculature, and glazed in a natural color. The open mouth
and turned to the left, the curved neck grooved to hold a fiber mane, and unadorned body indicate that it would have had separately made
the anatomy rendered with well-defined bone structure and muscular trappings, such as harness, saddle blanket and saddle, accoutrements
shoulders and rump, an oval aperture in the rear to receive a fiber tail, often seen molded on caparisoned models. The desire for realism
covered overall with a streaky chestnut brown glaze over ivory on the is also borne out by the groove in the neck and the aperture in the
forehead and hooves. rear made to hold a fiber tail and mane, probably made of real horse
32 5/6in (83cm) high hair that has long since disappeared. For a discussion on bronze
ornaments found near unadorned horse figurines in tombs, see William
$80,000 - 100,000 Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York, 1984, p. 200; and
Virginia L. Bower and Robert L. Thorp, Spirit and Ritual: The Morse
唐 褐彩陶馬 Collection of Ancient Chinese Art, New York, 1982, pp. 66-67.

Provenance During the Tang dynasty, the horse was the emblem of prestige
A Dutch private collection and power, and the present example with its large size, realism and
An English private collection, purchased in Hong Kong in the 1990s separately made trappings, would have been intended to display
the high status of the owner. For smaller Tang dynasty examples
來源 see a straw and amber glazed horse sold at Christie’s New York, 20
荷蘭私人收藏 September 2002, lot 257; and a chestnut and straw glazed horse sold
英國私人收藏，約1990年購於香港 in our San Francisco rooms, 26 June 2018, lot 308.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test
sample number C201d38 19 December 2001 is consistent with the
dating of this lot.

80 | BONHAMS