This striking and colourful horse dates from the Tang dynasty, arguably the most important period in Chinese history, which saw China’s greatest flowering in terms of artistic and social developments. This was precipitated by the collapse of the Sui Dynasty in 618 AD, upon which the ambitious Li family seized power and ushered in what historians generally agree to be one of China’s greatest golden ages. It was a period of imperial growth, whereupon China expanded along the trade routes and canal system laid down by the Sui emperors, while developing civil infrastructure to deal with administrative affairs. Although the period was certainly martial insofar as the army was continually mobilised, it was not a militaristic state such as that practiced under the much later Ming Dynasty. Indeed, the stability produced at “home” while China’s boundaries were expanding gave rise to an unprecedented flowering of artistic and cultural wealth.

Some of China’s greatest poets, playwrights and artists worked during this period, laying down foundations that would later come to define this greatest of empires. Attitudes were liberal, and women enjoyed considerable freedoms not usually afforded under more rigid administrations. Artistically speaking, Tang traditions benefited from a diverse range of aesthetic sources, including India, the Middle East and Central Asia. The new look was assisted by technological developments as well, including the refinement of block printing, which brought writing and art to a far wider audience. For our purposes, however, the most significant artistic innovations were in terms of sculpture. Whereas the Han dynasty attained a high level of sophistication in their art, it tended to be more expressionistic and less naturalistic. The Tang artists reversed this trend, for while there are certainly interpretative elements in Tang art, they are superimposed over a truly detailed appreciation for realism and representation.
The most fertile arena for Tang sculpture must be the grave statues, the five pairs of figures (two Lokapala warriors, two horses, two camels, two spirit guardians and two civic officials) that were placed in high-status graves to accompany the deceased to the hereafter. Of these, it is perhaps the horses that are the most beautiful and refined.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Chinese empire was built on – or from – the backs of horses. The movement of troops along the communication roads and in the direction of Central Asia necessitated rapid movement of cavalry (founded as a force in the Shang dynasty one and a half thousand years earlier) that took advantage of the fabulous steeds that were traded with the tribes of the Central Asian steppe region. Traders along the Great Silk Road also used such animals. Horses came to be associated with dragons, and indeed to be their close kin. Equestrian portraiture reached a new standard during this period, with superb rendering of musculature, detailing, line and form, sometimes backed up with the application of natural fibres (to mane and tail) or polychrome paint, as in the current case. The most famous Chinese sculpture of all time, incidentally, dates to this period - the so-called Six Chargers of Emperor Taizong, which were also designed as grave sculptures. This superb example is in a standing position with its right forefoot slightly extended, with a high, arched neck and eager stance. The details are executed in relief, including the eyes, ears, nose, hooves and the texturing of the mane and tail. The whole is painted with a beautiful orange-red paint, a paler version of which was used to decorate the detachable saddle. Judging from the manner in which it has been portrayed, it is a warhorse prepared for battle. This is a lovely and sophisticated sculpture, from a highly significant phase of Chinese history.