tang dynasty
Tri-color Glazed Horse (Tang Sancai)
Lead-glazed earthenware horse in tri-color (sancai) glaze, produced in Tang dynasty China c. 700–750 CE as funerary mingqi (tomb figure) for elite burials. Anchor example held at the British Museum (accession 1936,1012.230).
Scholarly Significance
Anchor the Tang Dynasty China cluster with a canonical example of sancai tri-color glazed earthenware — one of the most iconic objects of Tang ceramic production.
Notes
- ·Tang sancai (三彩, 'three-color') ware is a lead-fluxed earthenware fired at relatively low temperature (c. 900–1000°C), with colored glazes applied to produce amber/brown, green, and cream or white zones.
- ·Horses were among the most prestigious mingqi (冥器, 'spirit objects') produced for Tang elite and imperial tomb assemblages; large, spirited horses signaled status and cosmopolitan culture.
- ·The horses were modeled in sections and assembled before a biscuit firing, then glazed and re-fired. The characteristic glaze 'drip' patterns are partly intentional, partly controlled flow during firing.
- ·Production was centered in kilns near Luoyang and Chang'an (Xi'an), particularly the Gongxian kilns in Henan province.
- ·The peak of sancai horse production coincides with the first half of the 8th century CE, broadly from the High Tang period to the An Lushan Rebellion (755–763), after which sumptuary laws curtailed lavish tomb furnishings.
- ·The British Museum holds multiple sancai horse examples; accession 1936,1012.230 is a representative anchor object for this node.
- ·Anonymous workshop production: individual kilns are identified archaeologically (Gongxian, Tongchuan) but individual craftspeople are not named in surviving sources.