A RARE PAINTED POTTERY FIGURE OF A PIEBALD HORSE, TANG DYNASTY
China, 618-907. Well modeled standing foursquare, its head raised high and neighing with open mouth, nostrils flared, and expressive eyes below pricked ears, the neck molded with a ridge for the mane. The white body painted with red spots or irregular outline in imitation of piebald markings.


Provenance
: From a private collection in Illinois, United States.

Condition
: Some repair and touchups as generally expected from Tang dynasty excavations. Losses, fissures, and encrustations. Minor firing flaws, such as firing cracks, glaze flakes, glaze recesses, and dark spots. Overall, very good condition.

Weight: 7,870 g
Dimensions: Height 55.5 cm


Expert’s note
: The physical characteristics of the current lot, such as the broad neck, are noteworthy for their variation from the standard model Tang horse, and have been seen on examples with tiger-skin blankets, suggestive of a breed from the Taiga region.


The Tang nobility
had a profound fascination with horses, to the extent that a law was enacted in 667 that restricted horse riding privileges exclusively to the elite class. These noble families possessed immense numbers of horses, often totaling in the thousands. These horses were carefully bred and acquired for various purposes, such as cavalry, hunting, and polo. In particular, piebald horses were especially revered. These horses, marked with distinct patches of color, were not only visually attractive but were viewed by the nobility as auspicious and enigmatic.


Literature comparison:

For published examples of piebald horses dating back to the Tang Dynasty, refer to the Nelson-Atkins Museum's 'Handbook of the Collection', New York, 1993, page 292 (right). Compare a related pottery figure of a piebald caparisoned horse, dated late 7th to early 8th century, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 25.20.4. For a late 7th-century wall painting from a tomb in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, depicting a groom with a dark-spotted pale horse, see Virginia Bower, ‘Two Masterworks of Tang Ceramic Sculpture’, Orientations, June, 1993, pp. 77, fig. 15.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 20 September 2005, lot 178
Price: USD 84,000 or approx.
EUR 119,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An unusual large painted pottery figure of a piebald horse, Tang dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of painting with similar piebald markings as well as the related modeling, albeit with a different pose and a saddle. Note the larger size (73.6 cm).





唐代彩繪陶馬


中國，618-907年。造型精美，四足著地，馬首高高揚起，作張嘴嘶鳴狀，雙眼有神，頸部有鬃毛，十分有張力。 白色的馬身上塗有紅色斑紋和不規則的輪廓，模仿花斑斑紋。


來源：
美國伊利諾伊州私人收藏。

品相：
狀況良好，小修，缺損、裂縫和結殼，輕微燒製缺陷，如燒裂、釉片剝落、釉凹、黑斑等。

重量：7,870 克
尺寸：高 55.5 厘米


文獻比較：

一件唐代花斑陶馬的例子，Nelson-Atkins Museum《Handbook of the Collection》，紐約，1993 年，頁292（右）。比較一件相近的七世紀末至八世紀初花斑馬陶俑，收藏於大都會藝術博物館藏，藏品編號25.20.4。 山西省太原墓室出土的一幅七世紀末壁畫，描繪了一位馬夫與一匹黑斑白馬，見Virginia Bower，《Two Masterworks of Tang Ceramic Sculpture》，《Orientations》，1993年6月，頁77，圖1。


拍賣結果比較：

形制：相近
拍賣：紐約佳士得，2005年9月20日，lot 178
價格：USD 84,000（相當於今日
EUR 119,000
）
描述：唐代大型彩繪花斑陶馬
專家評論：比較非常相近繪畫風格、相近的模型，但不同的姿勢和馬鞍。請注意較大尺寸(73.6厘米)。