CHINA, Han Dynasty (Eastern Han, 25-220) Horse (incomplete) in terracotta with a green lead glaze (copper oxide), consisting only of the upper part of the horse's body, hollowed out with holes underneath, notably to insert the legs (missing), and others in the places of the tail and ears (idem). On a custom-made rectangular wooden base. H. (excluding base) 26 cm - W. 41 cm; wooden base H. 4 cm LdM Wear to the glaze (fading in places), a chip to the base. Provenance: In the collection of an Italian family since the late 1960s/early 1970s (oral information). Central Asian horses were highly sought-after in Han-era China, and were among the prized possessions of the nobles and the wealthy of the time, which is why they were found in terracotta and in reduced size in their tombs, along with servants and musicians, as well as guard towers, granaries, pigsties, guard dogs and so on. These funerary models, known as 'mingqi', replaced the originals in the tomb, in this case real horses buried with the deceased. Most mingi from the Han dynasty were painted. More rarely, especially in the case of large pieces such as this one, they were glazed, usually in green. The glaze here is still a beautiful, intense dark green in places. As is often the case with large Han terracotta horses, its legs were made separately from terracotta or wood, and have been lost over the course of its history (as have its tail and ears). Similarly, the horse's mouth is pierced as if to fit a bit, and it was probably wearing a harness that has now disappeared.