A magnificent large sancai-glazed figure of a caparisoned horse, Tang dynasty | 唐 三彩馬

The artist who made this magnificent horse has aptly brought to life the horse's powerful physicality and spirited nature. The stout legs, luscious mane and barrel-shaped body is typical of a Ferghana horse, a legendary breed that originally came to China during the Han dynasty from the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia.

As a symbol of status and wealth, ownership of a valuable Ferghana horse in life as in death reflected the high rank and importance of its owners. In 667 AD, Tang dynasty statues declared the ownership of horses as an aristocratic privilege, forbidding artisans and tradesmen the right to own horses. Horse breeding reached its apex during the Tang dynasty when the most prestigious breeds like the Ferghana horse were introduced to China. The Emperor Xuanzong displayed equal passion for his mounts commissioning paintings from the famed artist Han Gan (c. 706-783). In the Lidai minghua ji (‘Record of famous painters of all periods’; 847), Zhang Yanyuan noted that Emperor Xuanzong ‘loved large horses and ordered Han to paint the most noble of his more than 400,000 steeds’, six of these, all bred from the famed Ferghana stock in Central Asia are described by their respective colors, red, purple, scarlet, yellow, ‘clove’ , and ‘peach-flower’ colored, respectively. The most famous of which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ‘Night-shining White’ (Zhaoyebai) and attributed to the artist. Indeed, it is easy to speculate that Han Gan’s distinctive style which captures the animals in spirited movement, emphasizing their powerful, rounded and muscular forms while retaining an easy naturalism, influenced the artisans who sculpted the present horse.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford authentication Ltd., no. C198s35.