Tomb figure of a man on horseback
date: label: Date
content: ca. 700-750
label: Period
content: Tang dynasty
notes: label: Description
content: Pottery with "three color" glaze.
label: Description
content: Clay: fine, whitish buff, fired medium hard.
label: Description
content: Glaze: transparent, with fine crackle, over areas of brown and green on white surface; man's head, hands, boots and saddle blanket unglazed and painted.
label: Provenance
content: To 1948
label: Provenance
content: Jun Tsei Tai (1911-1992), Shanghai, to February 1948 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1948 to 1952
label: Provenance
content: C. T. Loo & Company, New York, purchased from Jun Tsei Tai in February 1948 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1952
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on June 25, 1952 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. 46077: "Pottery equestrian statuette of a horse and rider, wearing a hea[r]t shaped hat, wide sleeved green coat, black boots, astride on a greenish creamy Alzan with large brownish splashes, trimmed mane and tail Central Asia, T'ang, Ht: 15 ¾ in. Length: 15 in," copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: According to an annotation on the stockcard, the object was acquired in China from J. T. Tai in February 1948.
label: Provenance
content: Jun Tsei Tai (more commonly known in the West as J. T. Tai), known also as Dai Fubao in Shanghai, was a successful art dealer who was initially based in Shanghai China. Tai became one of C. T. Loo's most prolific suppliers in the 1940s. In 1949, however, J. T. Tai fled with his family to Hong Kong, when Communist leaders came into power. In 1950, he immigrated to New York City, where he established J. T. Tai & Company, a successful company that specialized in the sale of Chinese arts.
label: Provenance
content: According to some sources, the object belonged to a group of sixteen equestrian figures reportedly excavated from a tomb at Luoyang, Henan province prior to 1943, see Christie's, New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics, Jades and Works of Art, auction cat. (New York: June 4, 1987), under lot 195 and Annette L. Juliano, Bronze, Clay and Stone: Chinese Art in the C. C. Wang Family Collection (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), under cat. no. 54.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Loo's stockcard cited above. The object was transferred to the Freer Gallery in April 1948, see C. T. Loo's Approval Memorandum, dated April 14, 1948, copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: In the memorandum, Loo stated that the object was excavated in Sian Fu [Xi'an], Shaanxi province.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated June 25, 1952.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Year of the Horse: Chinese Horse Paintings (February 24 to September 2, 2002)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to September 4, 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Gallery 13 (November 10, 1955 to March 1, 1957)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Jun Tsei Tai 戴潤齋 (1911-1992)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: C. T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
place: label: Origin
content: Possibly Luoyang, Henan province, China
topic: label: Topic
content: ceramic
label: Topic
content: horse
label: Topic
content: Tang dynasty (618 - 907)
label: Topic
content: funerary
label: Topic
content: man
label: Topic
content: tomb
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: earthenware
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1952.12
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Earthenware with lead-silicate glazes and painted details
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 39.5 x 11.7 x 34 cm (15 9/16 x 4 5/8 x 13 3/8 in)