Lot 651. A rare sancai and blue-glazed pottery figure of an equestrian, Tang dynasty (618-907). Height 14 1/4  in., 36.3 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the rider modeled as a foreigner with hands raised as if holding reins, wearing a long blue-glazed robe with a sash tied around the waist, the face well-defined with details picked out in black, the horse standing four square with head slightly lowered, with pricked ears and bulging eyes, covered with a creamy-white glaze, with the head, mane and tail highlighted in amber, the saddle streaked in green, amber and blue.

Provenance: Collection of Irene and Earl (1908-1988) Morse.
Sotheby's New York, 3rd December 1986, lot 110. 

Exhibited: A Thousand Years of Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Epcot Center, Orlando, 1983, cat. no. 28.