Chinese Pair of Figures Depicting Horses with Grooms

Two grooms, two horses, and everyone dressed in green for the occasion.

This pair of figures depicting horses with grooms comes from China and dates to the Ming Dynasty (ca. 1600). They are painted and glazed pottery. Figures of attendants and horses were commonly placed in Chinese tombs to serve the deceased in the afterlife, and Ming examples often use green and amber glazes. Each horse stands on a flat slab base, one cream and one rosy brown, with gray manes and green and amber saddle cloths. Beside each, a groom in a long green robe with an amber sash raises one hand to the bridle. Each is 8.2 inches wide, 3 deep and 7 high.

Mirror images, and perfectly happy to be so.