Coco Li
Cataloguer / Sale Coordinator, Chinese Works of Art
Lot 28W
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED CAPARISONED FERGHANA HORSE Tang Dynasty
14 December 2023, 17:00 EST
New YorkUS$20,000 - US$40,000
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Dessa Goddard
Senior Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group
Michael Hughes
Vice President and Head of Department
I-Hsuan Chen
Senior Specialist
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED CAPARISONED FERGHANA HORSE
Tang Dynasty
The superbly modeled horse standing four square on a rectangular base, wearing an unusual floral-incised sancai-glazed saddle and saddle cloth with short stirrups to the sides, the straps of the hind quarters, the forelegs and the head with large almond-shaped tassels equally spaced along their length, the mane swept in curving ridges to one side of the neck and glazed in a dark amber glaze that continues over the entire body of the horse.
27 x 33 x 7 3/4in (65 x 84 x 19.2cm)
The superbly modeled horse standing four square on a rectangular base, wearing an unusual floral-incised sancai-glazed saddle and saddle cloth with short stirrups to the sides, the straps of the hind quarters, the forelegs and the head with large almond-shaped tassels equally spaced along their length, the mane swept in curving ridges to one side of the neck and glazed in a dark amber glaze that continues over the entire body of the horse.
27 x 33 x 7 3/4in (65 x 84 x 19.2cm)
Footnotes
唐 三彩華飾陶馬
Horses from the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia were considered a particular prize in Tang dynasty society, where sumptuary laws restricted the ownership of horses to the aristocracy. Adorned with a gaily tasseled harness with elaborate trappings and covered with elegant sancai glazes in shades of amber, green, and straw glaze on the chestnut-colored body, this prestigious breed, known for its spirited nature and muscular build, was a symbol of wealth and status for its owner. This present lot is distinguished in the treatment of its elegant, realistic mane, and fine tassel trappings adorning its powerful body.
Compare two similar caparisoned horses in the collection of the Kyoto National Museum, illustrated in the exhibition catalog organized by the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tang Pottery and Porcelain, Tokyo, 1988, p. 39, no. 34, with description on pp. 87-88, where the author illustrated a related example from the tomb of Tang dynasty Crown Prince Yide in fig. 1, excavation report published in the archaeology journal Wenwu, 1972, No. 7. See also a slightly larger horse with a cream-colored mane, formerly in the Tsui Museum of Art, sold at Sotheby's 16 March 2015, lot 3225.
For another large sancai glazed horse with almond-shaped tassels hanging from the caparisons, see Sotheby's New York, 20 March 2007, lot 608. Similar tassels can be found on a blue and sancai glazed horse excavated in 1965 at Luoyang, Henan Province and illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, no. 521.
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