Chinese Tang Dynasty Pottery Polo Players ex Sotheby's

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Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 18, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-02-18 10:00:00 2021-02-18 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-6373
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• Lot Description
  East Asia, China, Tang Dynasty, 618 to 907 CE. A pair of ceramic polo players, each with a well-modeled figure upon a galloping horse with finely painted details and nice remaining pigments. The sculptures emphasize a powerful sense of movement and athletic balance. Note how the horse’s legs are extended front and back - a pose known as ventre a terre - while the rider twists from the waist with arms raised to mightily strike the ball. Size: figure & white horse measures 14.75" L x 11.75" H (37.5 cm x 29.8 cm); together the ensemble measures 13.375" H (34 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  While a 3rd century CE poem by the Chinese poet Cao Zhi mentions the act of hitting a ball on horseback, and a mural in the late 6th century tomb of Xu Minxing in Shandong province depicts a man mounting a horse while holding what look like polo sticks, the first very clear written evidence of the game of polo in China dates to the Tang dynasty, when the game was called jiqiu (meaning strike ball). In the present day, the game is usually called maqiu horse ball) or damaqiu (strike horse ball). Both men and women of the Tang court played polo; however, the riders on the horses in this lot are both male. Two Tang emperors in particular, Taizong (reigned 626-649 CE) and Xuanzong (reigned 712-756 CE) favored the game of polo. They encouraged young men of the court to play it, because the skills involved could be applied to military activities.
  
  Tang dynasty poets were also inspired by polo. The literatus Han Yu wrote a poem entitled Poem to Commander Zhang at the meeting of the Bian and Si Rivers" which describes a polo field that was 1000 steps long, with low walls on three sides, and called the ball used in the game "the divine bead". The poem describes the game occurring before sunrise on a cold autumn morning; drums making a thunderous sound when the red flags are raised to start the match; as well as the intense competition between the players and the excitement of the spectators. At the end of the poem, Han Yu declares that polo is not a game for mere fun, but is actually one devised for military training. This said, scholars also played polo during the Tang dynasty and successful candidates in the national civil service examinations held a polo tournament to celebrate.
  
  Provenance: ex-Freeman Auctions, June 19 2020, Lot 106; property from a European-American collection, acquired from Sotheby's New York, September 15, 1999, lot 77
  
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  #157767

  Condition

  Figures are repaired from several pieces with limbs and heads reattached. Surfaces show normal age wear but have wonderful remains of pigmentation and scattered mineral deposits. Implements (polo sticks) held in hands are missing.
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