Horse with rider of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 A.D.)

Horse with rider of the Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD).
Polychrome terracotta.
Measurements: 33 x 30,5 cm.
Attached thermoluminescence issued by Oxford.
Attached certificate from the Po Yuen Tong Gallery in Honk Kong.
The Tang dynasty is considered by historians as a moment of splendor of the Chinese civilization, equal or even superior to the Han period. Stimulated by the contact with India and the Middle East, through the Silk Road, the Tang empire experienced a creative boom in numerous fields. The great cultural opening will result in an art fundamentally colorful, expressive and very eclectic, although it continues to be mainly for funerary use, where the artist remains anonymous craftsman. However, from this moment on, high-fired ceramics, decorated with enamels, will be used as a status symbol, with typologies such as vessels for the table of the litterateur and all kinds of crockery. Terracotta, on the other hand, is still used for grave goods, although stoneware will also be used from now on, especially for the tombs of nobles and scholars.