A MASSIVE GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE

HAN DYNASTY

細節

A MASSIVE GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A HORSE
Han Dynasty
Shown standing foursquare with head facing foreward, mouth open in a neigh and ears pricked upright, with rounded bosses at the interstices of the incised harness, and a single line carved on either side of the neck which follows its arched profile, the body further scored with two pairs of vertical lines, with hogged mane and raised docked tail, the figure finished with knife paring, especially apparent on the long legs
54in. (137.2cm.) high

拍品專文

Han pottery tomb figures of large size have been found in numerous cliff burials in Sichuan province. A large figure of a prancing horse, 1.14m. in height, found at Tianhuishan, Chengdu, is illustrated in Kaogu xuebao 1958:1, p. 100, and pl. IX:3; and another measuring 106cm. in height was found in cliff burial no. 13 at Majiashan, Xinduxian, Sichuan, recorded in Wenwu ziliao congkan, 1985:9, pl. VI:5

These pottery horses may be compared, in the sharp modeling of the head with open mouth and flaring lips, the bulging eyes, clipped mane, knotted tail and long neck held nearly upright, to an even larger bronze horse discovered in tomb no. 2 at Heijiashan, Mianyang, also in Sichuan, Wenwu 1991:3, pl. III, and p. 9

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 866f99 is consistent with the dating of this lot