Horse

This large statue has several features typical of the style in which horses were depicted towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. It stands in a stiff pose on all four legs, with the joints and fetlocks clearly marked, and has a rounded body and rather elongated chest.
The tail is raise up, but not in a straight line, and is knotted at the end in a shaped sphere with two diametrically opposite laminar protuberances. The head is vigorously sculptured, with the mouth open, the lips bared to reveal the teeth and the tongue hanging out to the left. The nostrils are dilated, the brow marked and the jaws depicted strongly; the round eyes are crowned with thick eyelids. The mane, in the Han style, begins with a forelock between the pointed ears and the rest is cut short. The only tack on the horse consists of the bridle, with the straps connected by six round embossed studs with a barely legible motif: each seems to represent a head, with non-Chinese characters surrounded by a row of pearls, or a crouching bear viewed from the front. There is a small vent hole beneath the horse’s tail. The glaze covers the entire statue from just above the fetlocks, as if to define the horse’s leg markings. The slight lack of glazing on the back, however, seems as if it could be due to abrasion by an element originally placed on the horse, possibly its rider.