Ca. 386-534 AD. Northern Wei Dynasty. A finely hollow-moulded terracotta horse statuette. The horse is finely modeled with a graceful, arched neck and a small, tapered head crisply detailed with flared nostrils, open mouth, and pricked ears. The chest is spanned by a tassel-hung strap, and the rump is protected by leather strapwork armor hung with foliate tassels. The back is draped with a red cloth with fringed ends set atop a flared mud guard combed with markings in imitation of fur. There are extensive traces of red pigment. The Wei dynasty was the longest-lived and most powerful of the northern Chinese dynasties that existed before the reunification of China under the Sui (581-618 AD) and Tang (618-907 AD) dynasties. For a similar Northern Wei dynasty terracotta horse, see https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14759/lot/171/. 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. 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. Size: L:410mm / W:320mm ; 3.1kg. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.