Ca. 618-906 AD A beautiful terracotta free-standing horse with a long neck artistically turned up. The animal has a white-coloured body, short mane and docked tail. A cloth is draped over the saddle, which shows traces of the original pigments.Warhorses were the pride of the Tang, a dynasty of prosperity, military expansion, and artistic achievement.For more information on the importance of horses in China, see:Cooke, B. (ed.) (2000). Imperial China - The Art of the Horse in Chinese History: Exhibition Catalogue. Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington.For more general information on the Tang Dynasty, see:Benn, C. (2002). Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty. Westport: Greenwood Press and Watt, J. C. Y., et al. (2004). China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 A.D. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Size: L:155mm / W:55mm ; 75g Provenance: East Anglian private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.