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Scientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by Oxford Authentication on 29 July 2026, based on sample number C126k1, sets the firing date of all three samples taken between 900 and 1500 years ago, consistent with the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.
Expert’s note:
The present lot is the largest saddled horse made of unglazed pottery from the Tang-dynasty currently recorded, standing an imposing 90.5 cm high. Only a very small number of Tang pottery horses of any type surpass it in scale, all belonging to different groups. Among these is a Sancai glazed horse measuring 94 cm high, sold at Christie’s New York, 23 March 2012, lot 1964, sold for USD 194,500 or approx. EUR 245,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). The extraordinary scale of the present horse, which demanded exceptional control in the modeling, assembly, drying, and firing of its massive body and slender legs, identifies it as a work of the highest artistic ambition, created for a burial of commensurate rank and prestige.
China, 618-907. Naturalistically modeled in a graceful mid-stride, emphasizing the muscular body and legs, the head gently turned to the left with pricked ears above bulging eyes, flared nostrils, mouth ajar, and arched neck, conveying a striking sense of vitality, the tail sinuously curved. The saddle and neatly incised saddlecloth with traces of red, black, and turquoise pigments.
Provenance: Property from Berwald Oriental Art, London, United Kingdom. John Berwald has been dealing in Chinese ceramics for over thirty years, having had galleries in both London and New York. He established Berwald Oriental Art in 1986, opening his first gallery on Kensington Church Street a few years later. Specializing in Chinese ceramics, sculpture, and works of art from the Han through to the Qing dynasty, Berwald has helped to form some of the world’s finest collections of Chinese art.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear, firing irregularities, small losses, encrustations, flaking to pigments, and minor chips mostly around the feet. Old repairs to the legs and minor touchups as generally expected from Tang dynasty excavations. Small holes from sample-taking, now filled. Presenting exceptionally well.
Weight: 22.8 kg
Dimensions: Height 90.5 cm
This spectacular terracotta figure is exceedingly rare for its size and exemplifies the finest of Tang dynasty sculptural art. The powerful sculpture would have been commissioned for internment in a burial belonging to an elite member of the Tang society, and together with a vast array of furnishing in the form of other animal figures, courtiers, entertainers and food and drink vessels, contributed to sustain the tomb occupant in their afterlife.
The frequency and exceptional sculptural quality of pottery horses dating to the Tang dynasty testifies to the importance attributed to the animal by contemporary society. Horses represented high status and wealth as only the nobility and the imperial household were allowed to ride them. The creatures were also employed in recreational activities involving dancing, polo and hunting, and finally, they were considered the reward for military invasions and the foundation of imperial solidity.
Thoroughbred Ferghana horses were traded with neighboring Arab nations for silk from as early as the Han dynasty and gradually replaced the sturdier steppe ponies indigenous to China. In 636, the Taizong emperor (r.599-649 AD) commissioned the manufacturing of six stone sculptures, each representing one of his favorite horses, which he selected from the military victories that brought him to power, and even composed a laudatory poem for each of these horses.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related gray pottery model of a horse from a different group, comprising unsaddled standing horses, dated to the Tang dynasty and measuring 110 cm in height, illustrated in Victor Choi, Horses for Eternity-Terracotta Equestrian Tomb Sculpture of Dynastic China, Hong Kong, 2007, p. 230-231, no. 99.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 29 March 2006, lot 376
Price: USD 72,000 or approx. EUR 106,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large painted grey pottery figure of a saddled horse, Tang dynasty (618-907)
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, decoration, and subject, with similar pose, head, and saddle. Note the smaller size (81.2 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 30 March 2005, lot 249
Price: USD 72,000 or approx. EUR 109,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare large painted grey pottery figure of a horse, early Tang dynasty, 7th-8th century
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and subject with similar head and expression. Note the smaller size (81.2 cm).
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