Chinese Ming Potteries - Horse, Attendants, & Litter

East Asia, China, Ming Dynasty, ca. 1368 to 1644 CE. Wow! An incredible collection of ten large, mold-made, glazed items from a Ming period tomb. There are six matching royal attendants, each dressed in a sancai-green glazed robe with yellow undertones and a white collar. They are each atop a hexagonal tiered pedestal, some standing with a hand pressed to their chests, other with a hand extended. Most wear conical orange hats with brims, while one wears a black hat with a cylindrical profile. Accompanying these attendants is a horse of the Mongolian pony style, finely outfitted with a saddle and blanket, glazed brown and green. Also included is a four-part palanquin-style litter, with two supporting frames and a covered seat with separate pointed roof. Size of largest (horse): 12.7" W x 13" H (32.3 cm x 33 cm)

Continuing a tradition begun millennia before, Ming dynasty elites had underground tombs full of pottery figures that were made to care for their every need in the afterlife. These were designed to assist the po, the part of the soul of the deceased that remained underground with the body while the hun, the other part of the soul, ascended. The attendant figures would have mirrored attendants who accompanied this elite person in life, and their ceramic representations stood ready to assist in death. The horse is a particularly interesting artifact of the Ming period - a reminder of the Ming court's trading relationship with the Mongols. Mongol missions to the court often presented the emperor with horses and other animals in exchange for silk and other textiles, silver, and paper money. The Mongols even established horse markets within China, one at Kaiping and one at Kuangning, in the early 15th century. These sturdy mounts and beasts of burden in turn powered the Chinese economy.

Provenance: ex-private Micklautz collection, Hawaii, USA, collected from 1940 to 1998

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#151868
Condition Report: The top of the litter is removable. Each piece has been expertly repaired/restored to some extent. This is all well done and almost impossible to discern, aside from one of the attendants' hands, which is has been repaired but not restored. Excellent preservation of original pigment and form. Wear commensurate with age including some small chips, nicks, and scratches, notably on the peripheries. Glaze has fine craquelure with light deposits.