Pair of Chinese Tang Imperial Guards on Horseback
£ 3,950.00
INDIVIDUALLY PRICED
An extremely fine pair of terracotta Imperial guards sat upon hollow-moulded horses dated to the Tang period. Each horse is posed powerfully advancing forward with its neck gracefully arched. The animals’ features have been modelled in a naturalistic manner featuring pricked ears, open mouths and prominent eyes painted in black pigment. Such careful representation of the animals, along with their simple yet splendid harnesses, reflect the Tang people’s apparent esteem for horses. The guards perched on top of the saddles wear fierce expressions. Both of them have their arms raised, possibly to hold the now lost weapons or reins. The riders are dressed in contrasting riding coats, red pauldrons with curved flaps, and tight trousers tucked into black riding boots. Their heads are covered with brown beast skins worn as caps tied under their chin.
The beautifully contrasting colours of the guards livery and horse coats make the statues especially striking as a pair.
Item A is accompanied by a positive Kotalla Laboratory thermoluminescence report no.32CM180321, and by an academic expertise by military specialist Dr. Raffaele D’Amato. It has also been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10811-178529.
N.B. Please enquire for our best accumulative price for the pair.
Date: Circa 618-906 AD
Period: Tang Dynasty
Provenance: From a West Country, UK, collection; formerly with a Bath, UK, gallery, 1990s.
Condition: Excellent condition, with original pigments still visible. Item A; the beast ears and one of the horse’s ears have been repaired. Slight chip on the top of the head.
Grave goods were an important status symbol in ancient China, so the affluent and important would be accompanied in their travels through the afterlife with numerous depictions of people, items and animals. Terracotta warrior/guard figures, such as this fine example, were originally placed at each side of the entrance of the tomb gate, which was located at the end of a long underground ramp used to expel evil spirits and to protect the deceased resting peacefully. Such statues were usually portrayed with ferocious foreign facial and anatomical features: to ensure the best protection for the deceased, such statuettes were modelled to represent the powerful foreigners that the Tang Dynasty often had to battle with.
Experts of Tang military recently suggested that the such ‘Bear’ warriors were probably soldiers of a proper Tang regiment, perhaps members of elite units or scouts. Such light cavalrymen would have provided scouts and skirmishers for Tang army, usually armed with long sabre, bow and arrow. The horses they rode had their tails tied with ribbons and the saddle flaps had protectors against mud.
To discover more about Tang statuettes, please visit our relevant blog post: Terracotta Tomb Attendants.
