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Lot Essay
Among the most dynamic ceramic sculptures created during the Tang dynasty are those portraying polo players mid-action, leaning from their saddles to strike with their mallets. In the present exceptional example, the sculptor vividly conveys both the motion of the horse and the poised athleticism of the rider, capturing the scene with remarkable vitality.
Polo was a particularly popular activity at the Tang court and was played by both men and women. Polo was specifically encouraged by two Tang emperors, Taizong (r. AD 626-649) and Xuanzong (r. AD 712-56). It was not only seen as an exciting game, but as being excellent for the development of certain useful skills, which, in the case of the young men of the court, could be applied to military activities. It is significant that a spirited polo match, involving more than 20 horsemen, is depicted in a mural on one side of the entrance tunnel to the tomb of Li Xian, Crown Prince Zhanghuai, dated circa AD 706 (see Treasures of Tang Mural Paintings from the Tomb of Prince Zhanghuai, Beijing, 2002, p. 30, fig. 14). (Fig. 1) The mural in his tomb shows the players using stirrups, which is not always the case for Tang equestrians, but which can clearly be seen on the current ceramic figure. More significantly, the mural’s appearance in this royal tomb is indicative of the importance of polo at the Tang court of the early 8th century.
It is notable that women in the Tang dynasty enjoyed a level of freedom far greater than that permitted in later periods. In the early Tang era, women typically traveled in small ox-drawn carriages, but by the mid-dynasty they were also riding horses themselves, sitting astride and dressed in Western-influenced attire featuring fitted jackets and wide-brimmed, veiled hats. This headgear was, unsurprisingly, set aside during polo matches and gradually fell out of use in women’s daily dress as the dynasty progressed. Indeed, when engaged in polo, women’s clothing closely resembled that worn by men.
The present figure of a female polo player is remarkable in many ways. Most Tang-dynasty pottery figures of polo players depict the rider turning in the direction of the horse’s inwardly curved neck. (See a rare and important figure of a female polo player on a galloping horse from The British Rail Pension Fund, sold at Christie’s New York, 14-15 September 2017, lot 1110). The current polo player, however, turns her torso and arm in the opposite direction of the horse’s neck, in one dynamic and focused movement.
Additionally, as noted above, the female rider is shown wearing Western attire, known as hufu (barbarian clothing), featuring a tunic with fitted sleeves over a quilted vest, and with knee-length trousers. As the rider concentrates on turning her body to strike the ball, the right sleeve of the tunic falls to reveal the brilliantly painted vest, detailed with foliate motifs in bright red, green and blue pigments. The vivid design of the vest is very rare to find on Tang female polo players and few appear to have survived. One very rare and closely comparable example to the present figure, from the collection of Dr. William Goldstein, is illustrated by R. Harrist Jr. and V. Bower in Power and Virtue, The Horse in Chinese Art, New York, 1997, p. 77, no. 13. A further rare group of four female polo players of similar size to the present example (35.5 cm. high), with at least one exhibiting a painted vest and sleeve, is in the Luoyang Institute of Archaeology and was recently published by A. Betrand and Huei-chung Tsao in “Tang China: A Cosmopolitan Dynasty,” Orientations, Hong Kong, Vol. 56, no. 1, January/February 2025, p. 15, fig. 4. (Fig. 2) A Tang-dynasty painting from the tomb of Zhang Lichen (AD 655–702), unearthed at Astana in Xinjiang in 1972 and published in Zhongguo wenwu Jinghua (Gems of China’s Cultural Relics), 1993, no. 129, depicts a female dancer wearing a vest adorned with foliate motifs closely resembling both the design and coloration of the vest on the present figure.
Polo was a particularly popular activity at the Tang court and was played by both men and women. Polo was specifically encouraged by two Tang emperors, Taizong (r. AD 626-649) and Xuanzong (r. AD 712-56). It was not only seen as an exciting game, but as being excellent for the development of certain useful skills, which, in the case of the young men of the court, could be applied to military activities. It is significant that a spirited polo match, involving more than 20 horsemen, is depicted in a mural on one side of the entrance tunnel to the tomb of Li Xian, Crown Prince Zhanghuai, dated circa AD 706 (see Treasures of Tang Mural Paintings from the Tomb of Prince Zhanghuai, Beijing, 2002, p. 30, fig. 14). (Fig. 1) The mural in his tomb shows the players using stirrups, which is not always the case for Tang equestrians, but which can clearly be seen on the current ceramic figure. More significantly, the mural’s appearance in this royal tomb is indicative of the importance of polo at the Tang court of the early 8th century.
It is notable that women in the Tang dynasty enjoyed a level of freedom far greater than that permitted in later periods. In the early Tang era, women typically traveled in small ox-drawn carriages, but by the mid-dynasty they were also riding horses themselves, sitting astride and dressed in Western-influenced attire featuring fitted jackets and wide-brimmed, veiled hats. This headgear was, unsurprisingly, set aside during polo matches and gradually fell out of use in women’s daily dress as the dynasty progressed. Indeed, when engaged in polo, women’s clothing closely resembled that worn by men.
The present figure of a female polo player is remarkable in many ways. Most Tang-dynasty pottery figures of polo players depict the rider turning in the direction of the horse’s inwardly curved neck. (See a rare and important figure of a female polo player on a galloping horse from The British Rail Pension Fund, sold at Christie’s New York, 14-15 September 2017, lot 1110). The current polo player, however, turns her torso and arm in the opposite direction of the horse’s neck, in one dynamic and focused movement.
Additionally, as noted above, the female rider is shown wearing Western attire, known as hufu (barbarian clothing), featuring a tunic with fitted sleeves over a quilted vest, and with knee-length trousers. As the rider concentrates on turning her body to strike the ball, the right sleeve of the tunic falls to reveal the brilliantly painted vest, detailed with foliate motifs in bright red, green and blue pigments. The vivid design of the vest is very rare to find on Tang female polo players and few appear to have survived. One very rare and closely comparable example to the present figure, from the collection of Dr. William Goldstein, is illustrated by R. Harrist Jr. and V. Bower in Power and Virtue, The Horse in Chinese Art, New York, 1997, p. 77, no. 13. A further rare group of four female polo players of similar size to the present example (35.5 cm. high), with at least one exhibiting a painted vest and sleeve, is in the Luoyang Institute of Archaeology and was recently published by A. Betrand and Huei-chung Tsao in “Tang China: A Cosmopolitan Dynasty,” Orientations, Hong Kong, Vol. 56, no. 1, January/February 2025, p. 15, fig. 4. (Fig. 2) A Tang-dynasty painting from the tomb of Zhang Lichen (AD 655–702), unearthed at Astana in Xinjiang in 1972 and published in Zhongguo wenwu Jinghua (Gems of China’s Cultural Relics), 1993, no. 129, depicts a female dancer wearing a vest adorned with foliate motifs closely resembling both the design and coloration of the vest on the present figure.