Female Polo Player

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Female Polo Player

Painted Red Pottery Female Polo Player Astride a Galloping Horse

Tang Dynasty, China
35 cm. long, plastic stand

Note: A Certificate of Authenticity from Becker Antiques (antique dealers since 1969, Amsterdam) will accompany the item.

– The results of thermoluminescence tests are consistent with the dating of this object.

The spirited horse covered in a red slip and modelled in full gallop with all four legs extended and in the air. The rider seated firmly in her saddle with feet stretched forward in the stirrups, her body twisted to the left at the waist and dressed in a long green, white and red tight-fitting tunic above black boots. The arms positioned to strike, the softly modelled face detailed in red and black pigment on a white slip beneath the black hair drawn up in a knot.

This figure is closely related to the well-known group of four female polo players in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, referred to in the Handbook of the Collections, Kansas City, 1959, p. 208; cf. also M. Medley, Tang Pottery and Porcelain, pl. 41, pl. 51; compare further the polo player exhibited ant the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1953-6, Catalogue. pl. 2432, p. 223.