Lot Essay
Horses of this size and type with striped mane, green-glazed fur saddle cloth and elaborate trappings are quite rare. Two published horses sharing the same distinctive striped mane and green-glazed textured saddlecloth are illustrated in Zhonghua wuqian nian wenwu jikan; Tang sancai Part II, 1984, 'Five Thousand Years of Chinese Art Series' Editorial Committee, fig. 146; and by Li Zhi Yan, The Art of Glazed Pottery of China, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 51, fig. 201. However, they both employ the more standard type of trapping rather than the present more elaborate type.
For a dark amber-glazed horse with amber and cream-striped mane and a similar saddle blanket in the Tokyo National Museum, see Sekai toji zenshu, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 11, col. pl. 74. A cream-glazed horse with chestnut-streaked mane, very similar trappings on the rump and the same kind of saddle blanket, from the Brodie Lodge Collection, was included in the O.C.S. exhibition, The Animal in Chinese Art, London, 1968, Catalogue, no. 219. Another horse of this type and size with amber-glazed body, similar saddle blanket and trappings in the National Museum of History, Taipei, is illustrated on the cover of, Early Wares: Prehistoric to Tenth Century, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics 1, Taipei, 1991; and a third amber-glazed horse with amber and cream-striped mane and similar trappings, but a brown-glazed imitation fur saddle cloth, is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art; Chinese Ceramics I; Neolithic to Liao, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 88. Finally, compare the slightly smaller horse of the same color and with a similar saddlecloth, harness and trappings, but a simple hogged mane, from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold Sotheby's, London, 12 December 1989, lot 56.
For a dark amber-glazed horse with amber and cream-striped mane and a similar saddle blanket in the Tokyo National Museum, see Sekai toji zenshu, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 11, col. pl. 74. A cream-glazed horse with chestnut-streaked mane, very similar trappings on the rump and the same kind of saddle blanket, from the Brodie Lodge Collection, was included in the O.C.S. exhibition, The Animal in Chinese Art, London, 1968, Catalogue, no. 219. Another horse of this type and size with amber-glazed body, similar saddle blanket and trappings in the National Museum of History, Taipei, is illustrated on the cover of, Early Wares: Prehistoric to Tenth Century, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics 1, Taipei, 1991; and a third amber-glazed horse with amber and cream-striped mane and similar trappings, but a brown-glazed imitation fur saddle cloth, is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art; Chinese Ceramics I; Neolithic to Liao, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 88. Finally, compare the slightly smaller horse of the same color and with a similar saddlecloth, harness and trappings, but a simple hogged mane, from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold Sotheby's, London, 12 December 1989, lot 56.