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Mortuary Figurine

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171802

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Object Number:C467
Current Location: Asia Galleries
Currently On Display
Culture:Chinese
Provenience: China
Period: Tang Dynasty
Date Made: Tang Dynasty
Early Date: 618
Late Date: 906
Section:Asian
Materials:Clay
Glaze
Technique:Three Color Glaze
Glazed
Fired
Iconography:Horse
Credit Line:Purchased from C. T. Loo, 1925

Description

Glazed pottery figure of a horse with a green saddle, an amber body, and a cream colored mane. Symbolizing status and power, this horse figurine would have been placed with other ceremonial and everyday objects in a tomb. In the Tang Dynasty, the saddled horse was more common than the ox cart which in earlier periods symbolized a means of transport to the afterlife. The tri-color glaze, known as sancai, was more expensive then plain terracotta. It should indicate that the horses were made for an aristocratic occupant. Often mass-produced using a piece-mold technique, horses were slightly altered through adjustments in the neck and legs. C461 through C468 is a set.

Current & Past Exhibitions:

China Gallery (22 Feb 2017) View Objects in Exhibition
Chinese Rotunda (1968 - 22 Feb 2017) View Objects in Exhibition

Bibliography:

[Article] Fernald, Helen E. 1925. "Mortuary Figures of the T'ang Dynasty". The Museum Journal. Philadelphia. The University Museum. Vol. XVI. no. No. 3. pg. 153-181 Actual Citation : Page/Fig./Plate: pg. 163View Objects related to this Actual Citation

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