Featured Tang Sancai

Throughout history Kalimantan used very little of its mineral resources. Others did.
The Martaban jars on Kalimantan are also Chinese, or did you mean something else?

 

As AJ said, the cobalt blue version just doesn't look correct to me. The colour just seems too vivid and recent, but what do I really know. The blue colour photograph AJ posted from the MFA is much more like the Tang horses I have seen in the antique stores in Hong Kong and China. Your green horse looks more like the traditional sancai to me.

The only way to really tell is with a Thermoluminescence test, which the big auction houses usually undertake to authenticate an object, especially in the 5/6 figure category. The current cost for the test in Australia is about $300 - $500 per sample, but I'm not sure of the cost elsewhere.

I would love to tell the story of how most of the COA are produced for Chinese Tang antiques in Hong Kong and other parts of the world, but I'm not sure that is relevant to this thread.

I have one pair of blue "Tang" style horses I bought at auction recently for a few hundred dollars. Sorry they are in storage at the moment or I would photograph them for you, but I just love them. Fake or Real! There is something that just resonates with these style of horses for me, and I am very happy to own a quality repro as it is most unlikely I will be able to afford a Sotheby's, Christie's, or Bonhams object.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your wonderful surprise.

My pair of blue beauties from the original catalogue:

 

I think that goes for many of us, they are just classic beauties. Your horses look beautiful, even on that small picture.

 

Hi Marco,
I used a green, yellow and a light brown. They were not glazed but a nice slightly shiny egg shell enamel.
greg

 

yeah martaban is originally from china,came to indonesia in 14-15th century,was loved by dayak people of borneo,and in modern time we have one place in kalimantan that making decorating jar,it's called singkawang jar,i think it was inspired by martaban jar.

 

I agree, the Singkawang jars are made locally, but by Chinese potters in the Chinese tradition.
I know of a Chinese potter in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, who is still making Martaban jars for the Dayak market. In his case the manufacture grew out of requests for repairs to highly valued antique Martaban jars. Maybe that is also what happened in Singkawang?

 

yeah i think so,they are basically same.From what i've learned,mostly chinese potter was come to borneo or kalimantan in 18-19th century bring the "modern" skill of chinese pottery of qing dynasty,while martaban is mostly the ming "heritage" with less glaze and have more dull colour.nowadays many singkawang potter closed their shop because lacking of its fans,sadly

 

Your colors are true to traditional Tang Sancai. If you are successful with the water absorption test I found on gotheborg.com you should seriously consider spending money on the Thermoluminescence test. Money well spent

 

...more than I

As stated in my OP, these were a lot more simular to AJ’s horse prior to getting a thorough scrubbing by my young lady(dag-nab-it) . See the picture below of the under belly where she cleaned but did not scrub, like the rest of the horse. I really wish I didn’t go for that martini next door when we got home . I also know that this can be copied as well, and gives no authenticity to the piece. I dont believe they are authentic but like you like yours, I really like these too. They are at the very least, not new.

The original picture posted was not giving justice to their condition, so I just took some close-ups, added here.





“I would love to tell the story of how most of the COA are produced for Chinese Tang antiques in Hong Kong and other parts of the world, but I'm not sure that is relevant to this thread.”

Start a new post please, always love a good war story.....

Your horses are beautiful, do your remember their size?

 

That demon drink again....

 

Only the next day.....

Hey everybody, GREAT NEWS! Not only do I have positive proof my Tang horses are part of a tomb,..... THEY ARE THE TOMB

 

Hey just notice looking at the bugs pictures side by side, the clay used is two different colors? Does that mean they were made two different places or is that normal, just mixed different?

 

the cracking glaze on the surface looks natural,so i think this is must be the reproduction of tang dynasty horse in qing period of 19th century,the blue colour+the cracking glaze definetely 19th period.be proud of your horse,it's still a beautiful decoration,cheers...

 

I am a little confused. Why were they making reproduction Tang Horses in the 19th C if as I am reading, chinese collectors did not have much interest in them as they were made for the dead and concidered bad luck. There was no foreign interest until about 1910 and I cannot find anything about a Tang tombs being open prior to early 20th C.

I see many 19th century Tang horese being and been sold at reputable auction houses labeled both Tang or Reproduction Tang...

Can someone throw me a bone as where the connections are?

Additionally, why the two color clay?
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[UPDATE]
Tang Pottery Production
According to the McClung Museum: “Relatively low-fired and light bodied, Tang pottery is typically composed of earthenware, a porous and permeable common clay. Ranging in color from nearly white to buff, red, or brown, depending on the mineral content, this earthenware was fired in kilns at a temperat.
————————————————————
Got it

 

so,maybe here's the explanation

when the qing open the trade with the west in 17th-19th century,the chinese porcelain and "all of their" products are highly sought,many of them were made for export,also in qing dynasty the chinese pottery reach their highest peak of their pottery skills,so some potters see the chance of big market demand for chinese porcelain they also make the reproduction of the past dynasties,mostly they make the reproduction in 19th century.

So the underline here is in 17th-19th century the chinese not only export many of their ceramics products but also the antiques (by smuggle or black market or just because the money) and also the reproduction.So here's why in 1911 china have prohibit the sales of qing dynasty period or the dynasties before.

this is for your reference only,you can read in 17th-18th century section,so you have an image of how busy their pottery were at that time,even their white and blue theme porcelain recipe was "stolen"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_and_white_pottery

so this is an indication that their ceramics and all of their pottery products are highly sought,so maybe your horses were meant to be exported not for local market or maybe your horses were made to tricking some amateur foreigner who interested in chinese antiques back in 19th century,do this make sense?

 

I am thinking about the deceased spider colony. It looks like they all died at the same time, from the same catastrophe (like the dinosaurs).
That could mean the horses came to the US at a time when Chinese shipping containers were fumigated, either in China, or upon arrival in the US, or even both. So fairly recently, but that would only say something about the time they were shipped, not the time they were made.

 

Of course they could have died five years ago in the home where I found them

I kind of thought the dark body(last to die) female ate the other two daddy’s whose bodies are now a mere shell of a man, than gave birth to her hoard of spiderlings. This of couse all happened after being put in a storage unit while they were in a small box.

Thank you for a good read. Appreciated. Still, were Tang horses known of by the local chinese even though no tombs have been opened? At least none that I can search out. My apologies for my bewilderment.

 

I won't claim to know anything about the Tang horses other than I've always loved them. However...you can find very similar looking blue Tang horses on Ebay for a few dollars......

 

have you search in chinese?