Circa 618-906 AD A breath-takingly beautiful terracotta female polo rider with her head turned. She is depicted sitting on the horse and displaying a typical characteristic of court ladies of the Tang Dynasty. Her face is sensitively painted with elaborate details, elongated eyes, pointed nose, dimpled chin, and crisply carved mouths painted in red. Painted with rosy, full cheeks and make up indicate their status in the imperial court, which might be a princess or concubine. The figure is depicted wearing an elaborated coiffure which is drawn into a loose loop which hands slightly forwards. The hands raised to grasp the polo stick which it would have held. The galloping hollow-moulded horse features well-defined ears, eyes, noses and nostrils. The eyes, saddles and trappings have been added in black pigment. The horses extend their legs in a dynamic pose in mid-air to give the illusion of the action of a polo game. The original pigmentation survives largely intact. Decorated in a red pigment, the terracotta-coloured saddle and cloth still prominent. Terracotta figurines depicting female polo players riding a galloping horse have been found in the burials of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906 ), with the display of large quantities of figurines and a wide variety of types indicating the high social class that the burial occupants occupied during their lives. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Size: L:390mm / W:480mm ; 5.6kg. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.