Rider on horseback; China, Ming dynasty, 1368-1644.

Rider on horseback; China, Ming dynasty, 1368-1644.
Polychrome and glazed terracotta.
It has repainting losses in the polychrome.
Measurements: 32 x 24 x 11 cm.
Round sculpture made of polychrome and glazed terracotta. The piece represents a rider on a horse both treated with a volumetric modeling of hieratic character and very synthetic lines. The human figure is dressed in court clothes that show his social class, thus interpreting the piece as belonging to a funeral trousseau of the Ming dynasty.
The Ming dynasty is one of the longest periods in Chinese history, lasting approximately three centuries. After the Yuan period of foreign domination, the Ming period saw the re-establishment of traditional Chinese values. The seventeen emperors of this dynasty reigned in a state of relative peace and prosperity, and belonged to the Han ethnic group (the majority in China), as did the civil service. The economy will be transformed from an agrarian state to a completely mercantile one at the end of the dynasty.