PROPERTY FROM THE HAROLD AND RUTH NEWMAN COLLECTION A PAIR OF PAINTED POTTERY FIGURES OF POLO PLAYERSTang Dynasty The horses modeled in full gallop with front and back legs outstretched and with heads tilted slightly to one side and ears pricked in a naturalistic pose, the male riders leaning forward and with arms in a game posture, each wearing long tunics with wide lapels and a tight fitting cap with rounded top section, the horses bodies with traces of white pigment with painted details, the riders in differing pigments of opposing teams. 13 5/8in and 13 1/4in (34.7cm and 33.8cm) length; 11 3/8in and 10 5/8in (29.2cm and 27.2cm) high 唐 彩繪陶馬暨馬球球員 Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 19 March 1997, lot 189 The Harold and Ruth Newman Collection, Connecticut, 1997-2022 出處： 紐約蘇富比，1997 年 3 月 19 日，拍品第 189 號 康州 Harold and Ruth Newman 藏，1997-2022 The popularity of the sport of polo in Tang China is evidenced by the various models of these figures, shown either riding on 'galloping' horses without support, or on horses firmly standing on rectangular bases. The earliest literary references to stories of Polo-playing within the Imperial elite date to the 7th and 8th centuries. A wall mural found in the tomb of Li Xian, Crown Prince Zhanghuai, datable to the years 706-711, is illustrated by J. Fontein and Wu Tung, Han and Tang Murals , Boston, 1976, p. 101, no's. 122-125, col. pl. 15. See also R. Harrist, Power and Virtue, The Horse in Chinese Art , Chinese Institute in America, New York, 1997, pp. 74-75, nos. 11-12, for further discussion of polo playing in Tang China. For a set of three female polo players on 'galloping' horses, see Christie's, New York, 30 May 1991, lot 263; and another pair at Christie's, New York, 27 November 1991, lot 305. For other related types see, Qin Yanyu, Zhongquo gudai taoci yishu , Shanghai, 1955, pl. 37, for one male and one female rider, apparently excavated in Luoyang, Henan province; Hasobe and Sato, Sekai toji zenshu , vol. 11, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 183 for a single female player in the Tenri Museum, Japan; and four riders from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, illustrated in the Handbook of the Collection , Kansas City, vol. II, 1973, p. 81. The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 766y40 is consistent with the dating of this lot.