This magnificent and very large sancai-glazed horse, with its lustrous chestnut coat and cream mane and tail, is distinguished both by its striking coloration and by the refined detailing of its trappings. A comparable arrangement of shortened stirrups and a knotted saddle cloth appears on a smaller, cold-painted horse standing with one hoof raised, excavated in 1987 from a Tang dynasty tomb at Luoyang, Henan, and illustrated in The Silk Road – Treasures of Tang China, Empress Place, Singapore, 1991, p. 72. Another example, a smaller horse with predominantly blue sancai glaze and a more loosely knotted saddle cloth, was excavated in 1965 at Luoyang and published in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan: Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 150, no. 521. Like the present piece, that example also features tassels hanging from its breast and tail straps. A further related glazed horse with a similarly knotted saddle cloth is illustrated by Li Zhiyan in Zhongguo youtao yishu, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 189. A bound saddle cloth and elegantly arched hogged mane, comparable to those of the present figure, can also be seen on a smaller sancai-glazed horse in the Tenri Museum, Japan, published by Masahiko Satō and Gakuji Hasebe (eds.), Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1976, p. 150, no. 139.

The horse has long held a central place in Chinese life and art. As early as the Pleistocene epoch, the animal now known as the Przewalski horse roamed the steppelands of northern China, where horses have remained integral to daily and cultural life. Domestication likely began in the Neolithic period, from which the earliest artistic depictions of horses also date. Numerous representations of horses appear among Neolithic and Bronze Age cave paintings from Inner Mongolia and Gansu province, while lifelike stone carvings of horses have been discovered at Bronze Age sites such as Bayan Urad in Dengkou county, Inner Mongolia, including one depicting a mounted rider.

From these early beginnings, the Chinese artistic and spiritual fascination with the horse flourished. Horses were esteemed not only for riding and transport but also as indispensable animals of war. Their use in chariots and cavalry profoundly influenced China’s military history. The deeply rooted belief in the afterlife, and the custom of providing tomb furnishings to ensure comfort and prestige beyond death, have preserved abundant evidence of the horse’s enduring symbolic and practical importance in ancient China.

Among the most celebrated of all Chinese ceramic sculptures are the sancai-glazed horses made for the tombs of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) elite. Representing wealth, power, and imperial grandeur, such figures emphasized the status of the tomb occupant. Beyond their association with war and transport, these horses also evoke the leisure pursuits of the Tang court, most notably polo, a sport enjoyed by both men and women and actively promoted by the emperors Taizong and Xuanzong for its cultivation of martial skills. The horses depicted are the revered “blood-sweating” Ferghana steeds, introduced from Central Asia during the Han dynasty and celebrated for their speed, strength, and endurance: qualities vividly captured by Tang ceramic sculptors.

Tang sancai horses were either adorned with the brilliant tri-colored glazes characteristic of the period, as in the present example, or left unglazed and cold-painted. Both approaches achieved remarkable realism and vitality. The sancai technique, in particular, produced enduringly vibrant colors that accentuate the animal’s powerful physique and intricate molded trappings. The present figure stands as a superb example of this celebrated artistic tradition. A related but slightly smaller sancai horse (68 cm. high) sold at Sotheby's London, 3 November 2021, lot 104 and another in the same rooms 12 May 2021, lot 6.