拍賣筆記 vol.314 蘇富比紐約2013：唐三彩大馬一對，419.7萬美元（約3275萬港元）售出 - Sotheby’s NY 2013, A Pair of Tang Dynasty Large Sancai Horse, Sold for 4.197m USD
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在唐三彩拍賣史上，真正能夠反覆被市場驗證價值的，始終只是極少數案例。1989 年，倫敦一件黑釉唐三彩大馬以 374 萬英鎊成交，建立了單件作品的價格上限；2021 年疫情期間，尺寸達 68 公分的唐三彩大馬仍能在倫敦成交，顯示這一級別作品對市場週期的低敏感度；而 2013 年紐約拍場上，一對尺寸、造型完全一致、釉色分屬黑釉與極罕見「草莓花斑色」的唐三彩大馬，以 419.7 萬美元成交，則進一步說明：當尺度、釉色與成對結構同時成立時，唐三彩馬已不再屬於一般工藝品市場，而進入結構性稀缺的範疇。
In the auction history of Tang sancai, sustained value has been confirmed by only a handful of cases. In 1989, a large black-glazed Tang horse sold in London for GBP 3.74 million, setting a benchmark for single examples. In 2021, during the pandemic, a 68 cm Tang sancai horse still achieved a successful sale, demonstrating low sensitivity at the top end of the market. Earlier, in New York in 2013, a matched pair of monumental Tang sancai horses—identical in scale and modeling, yet distinguished by black glaze and the exceptionally rare “strawberry roan” glaze—sold for USD 4.197 million. Together, these results show that when scale, extreme glaze rarity, and true pairing converge, Tang sancai horses operate in a category defined by structural scarcity rather than decorative appeal.
對比：
唐三彩大馬一對
Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works Of Art
17 September 2013 • New York
lot 45
A PAIR OF MAGNIFICENT SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY HORSES TANG DYNASTY
Original Estimate: $2,500,000
Sold for $4,197,000
一對氣勢恢宏之唐代三彩釉陶馬，尺寸碩大，塑造極為精湛。兩馬皆立於長方形台座之上，四足平穩站立，頭部高昂並略向左側轉動，鼻孔外張，口微張，露出刻畫清晰的牙齒，神態生動而威嚴。
其中一匹為極為醒目的黑馬，鬃毛潔白，自拱起的頸部如鋸齒狀波浪般垂落，前額鬃毛於豎立雙耳前分開，梳向兩側，覆於碩大的雙眼與鼻樑之上，並以乳白色斑紋潑灑其間。馬具飾以清晰挺立的花瓣形圓飾；鞍部覆以葉綠色鞍毯，表面刻意塑造出近似皮毛的自然質感，前緣向後翻捲，露出乳白色內襯，並以胸帶與尾帶固定，其上亦模塑花瓣形釘飾。整體色彩在濃郁的褐黑色釉面映襯下極富對比效果，釉色於纖長的腿部逐漸過渡為琥珀褐色，於乳白色踝部上方形成流釉痕跡，蹄部則施以琥珀色斑釉。
另一匹為極為罕見之「草莓花斑色（strawberry roan）」馬，全身施以紅褐偏米色釉，局部露出乳白色斑塊，唯蹄部為乳白色；截短之尾部與修剪整齊的鬃毛施以濃栗色釉，鬃毛於雙耳前分開，並有一縷垂落於肩部。雙眼置於深刻的眉骨之下，左眼尤為特殊，刻畫出瞳孔與虹膜。鞍部覆以亮麗的黃綠與乳白色相間鞍毯，綁繫後自然垂墜成褶，其下另有兩層鞍墊，潑施綠釉與栗色釉，同樣以胸帶與尾帶固定，於鞍後打結，一端垂落於鞍墊側邊。
尤為值得注意者，在於兩馬背線的處理：背部弧線自前向後強烈拱起，延伸至高聳的臀部與飽滿抬起的後軀，繼而轉折為捲曲上揚的尾部，再向下收束於肌理分明的大腿與飛節部位。整體比例極為優美，塑形完全一致，確認為一組精心構思的成對作品，同時又各自展現出不同釉色所帶來的獨特氣質與威嚴姿態。附原配台座。
來源（Provenance）
Sotheby's 紐約2003 年 3 月 27 日，拍品編號 36
品相（Condition）
兩馬皆可見符合其年代與材質特性的修復痕跡，主要集中於肢端部位。
黑馬：四足踝部、台座與頸部各有乾淨修復斷裂；鬃毛尖端局部缺失，未作補繪；綠色鞍毯邊緣有小缺口，兩角各缺失一小段；鞍毯側面可見一條垂直向燒成裂紋，並散見數處釉面剝落（其中兩處於照片中可見）；胸前另有一處釉面剝落；左側可見垂直釉裂，右後腿上方有一條水平燒成裂；豎立雙耳依例修復；尾部經修復後重新接合；腿部與蹄部散見極細小釉面缺失。
草莓花斑馬：四足於膝下部位均有修復，後蹄與台座亦經修復；馬具下頦帶修復，下唇局部有輕微補色；雙耳、前額鬃毛尖端與截尾末端均為修復，其中一處前額鬃毛尖端缺失；頸部可見數條短小燒成裂；纏繞於截尾之繩索末端有缺損；鞍毯褶角與兩側帶端有缺口，均保留原狀；臀部可見兩條水平燒成裂，後腿間另有一條。
整體狀況：整體保存狀況極佳。鬃毛與鞍毯邊緣之缺失均未補繪，燒成裂紋清晰可見，表面未經重新上色處理。
圖錄說明（Catalogue Note）
如本拍品般以互補形式塑造、釉色不同而造型完全一致之大型唐代三彩釉陶馬，實屬罕見。兩馬在體格、頭部角度、面部刻畫及肌理表現上高度一致，肌肉以浮雕式處理，並以深刻線條加以強調，顯示其原為一對精心構思的成組作品。已知之成對釉陶馬例證極少。
京都國立博物館藏有一組極為重要且風格相近之成對陶馬，一匹為斑駁釉色，另一匹為黑釉，與本組高度可比，著錄於《繭山七十年誌》第一卷（1976 年，圖 197、198），並再刊於《世界陶磁全集》第 11 卷（圖版 192）。另有一組未施釉之大型成對陶馬，曾於 1988 年 12 月 13 日 Sotheby's 倫敦拍賣（拍品 49、50），其中一匹又於 1997 年 3 月 19 日紐約拍賣再度釋出。上述諸例皆以互補配對為構思核心，透過釉色、鬃毛修剪方式與帶有西域風格的馬具加以區分。
馬自古即為權力、地位與財富之象徵，如此體量巨大、釉色考究且成對呈現之作品，顯然反映其墓主人及家族之顯赫身分。早在西元 667 年，唐代即有明文規定，禁止工匠與商賈擁有馬匹，明確將馬的所有權界定為貴族特權。
黑釉陶馬尤為稀少，且多見於修剪整齊的平鬃形式，例如著名的英國鐵路養老基金舊藏黑釉馬，1989 年於 Sotheby's 倫敦拍賣以 374 萬英鎊創下當時世界紀錄。該馬同樣配有模擬皮毛質感的綠釉鞍毯，但其黑色釉面間雜淺色斑點，並部分被大型馬具遮蔽。其他可比之例尚包括 2005 年 9 月 21 日紐約拍賣釋出之一件尺寸略小之黑釉三彩馬，以及波士頓美術館藏一件鬃毛處理相近、馬具更為繁複之大型陶馬（著錄於巫鴻《大地的變遷》，2001 年，第 40–41 頁）。
本件黑釉之色澤尤為濃厚且略帶虹彩效果，係在標準琥珀釉之上再施一層富含鐵質之釉層而成，於踝部仍可見下層琥珀釉。至於草莓花斑色，則為唐代陶馬中最為稀有的釉色類型，其製作方式為：先於白色化妝土上施以富鐵紅色化妝土，再局部擦除後覆以透明釉，使白色斑塊自紅色基底中自然浮現。此類釉色陶馬，過去僅見極少數例證，如 1987 年 6 月 9 日倫敦拍賣中，來自俾斯麥伯爵夫人（Mona, Countess von Bismarck）收藏之一例。
唐代帝王對馬匹毛色尤為重視，其愛馬往往以毛色命名。太宗李世民昭陵六駿，即分別記述其戰功與毛色；玄宗亦酷愛名馬，命韓幹描繪其四十餘萬匹良駒中最為出眾者。此一對陶馬所呈現之兩種釉色，顯然為突破三彩常見的琥珀、乳白與綠色範圍而特別研發，用以準確表現特定名馬之毛色，顯示其地位之特殊性。
兩馬樸素而不事繁飾的馬具，進一步強化了其「馴服而蘊含力量」的視覺效果，與多見於儀仗行列之華麗馬具形成對比，或暗示其所象徵者並非禮儀展示，而是軍功與實戰榮耀。
本拍品年代已經英國牛津鑑定有限公司熱釋光測試確認（編號 766p63 與 766p62）。
FAQ｜唐三彩大馬一對（Sotheby’s New York 2013）
Q1｜為什麼「一對」的唐三彩大馬如此罕見，且價格遠高於單件？
中：大型唐三彩馬本就屬於高等級隨葬器，能以「成對」形式保存至今者極少。一方面，燒造與埋藏風險倍增；另一方面，真正意義上的「一對」，並非尺寸相近即可，而是必須在比例、姿態、肌理與製作邏輯上高度一致，同時又以釉色、鬃毛或馬具形成互補。本拍品正符合此一嚴格條件，其價格體現的不是簡單的「兩倍單件」，而是結構性稀缺。
EN:Large Tang sancai horses are already elite burial objects; surviving as a true, intentionally conceived pair is exceptionally rare. Risk in firing, burial, and survival increases exponentially. More importantly, a genuine pair requires identical sculptural logic—proportions, stance, musculature—while achieving contrast through glaze color or grooming. The premium reflects structural rarity, not a simple doubling of a single figure’s value.
Q2｜黑釉馬與「草莓花斑色」馬，哪一種在學術與市場上更稀有？
中：若僅論存世量，「草莓花斑色（strawberry roan）」更為稀少，屬唐三彩馬中最難得的釉色體系；但黑釉大馬因其視覺衝擊力、歷史拍賣紀錄與標誌性案例（如 1989 年英國鐵路基金會舊藏），在市場層面具有更強的價格錨定效應。本組的關鍵，在於兩種「極端稀有釉色」同時成立，且彼此呼應。
EN:In terms of survival, strawberry roan horses are rarer; technically and materially, they are among the most difficult Tang sancai effects. Black-glazed horses, however, carry stronger market anchoring due to iconic precedents and record-setting sales. The importance of this pair lies in the coexistence of two extreme rarities, conceived as complements.
Q3｜拍品修復不少，為何不影響其頂級地位？
中：對唐三彩大型立體器而言，「無修復」本身並不現實。真正的判斷重點在於：修復是否集中於結構性脆弱部位（如踝、耳、尾），是否誠實呈現燒成裂而非全面重繪，以及原釉是否仍保有完整視覺主導性。本拍品保留大量未補繪之缺失與燒成裂，反而有助於學術判讀，並未削弱其核心價值。
EN:For monumental Tang sancai figures, the absence of restoration is unrealistic. The key questions are whether repairs are confined to predictable weak points, whether firing cracks remain visible, and whether the original glaze still dominates visually. Here, the restraint in restoration supports scholarly integrity rather than diminishing importance.
Q4｜為什麼這類唐三彩馬常被拿來與皇帝愛馬、韓幹畫馬並論？
中：這並非單純的文獻裝飾，而是風格來源的問題。唐代對名馬毛色、體態與精神氣質有高度審美自覺，宮廷繪畫（如韓幹）所建立的「雄健而內斂」之馬匹形象，深刻影響了陶塑語言。本拍品在背線、臀部與動勢控制上的處理，顯然超越一般隨葬器的公式化水準。
EN:The comparison is not rhetorical but stylistic. Tang court culture placed exceptional emphasis on equine form, color, and spirit. Court painting—especially Han Gan—established an ideal of controlled power and naturalism that influenced three-dimensional media. The sculptural sophistication here exceeds formulaic funerary production.
Q5｜與 1989 年倫敦創紀錄的黑釉馬相比，這一對的市場定位有何不同？
中：1989 年的黑釉馬建立的是「單件極致」的價格天花板；2013 年這一對，則代表「成組敘事」的巔峰。前者是標誌性孤例，後者是制度性稀缺。兩者不構成替代關係，而是不同收藏邏輯下的最高形態。
EN:The 1989 black horse defined the ceiling for a singular masterpiece. The 2013 pair represents the apex of paired, narrative-driven collecting. One is iconic singularity; the other is institutional-level rarity. They occupy different but equally elevated market positions.
Q6｜這類頂級唐三彩，是否仍有再創高價的可能？
中：關鍵不在「唐三彩」整體，而在是否同時具備：大型尺度、極端稀有釉色、明確成對結構、可追溯拍賣史與學術可比性。符合這五項條件者，全球範圍內屈指可數，其價格更多受「是否再次出現」而非市場情緒主導。
EN:The question is not the Tang sancai category broadly, but whether a work combines monumental scale, extreme glaze rarity, true pairing, documented market history, and scholarly comparables. Objects meeting all five criteria are so few that price is driven by reappearance, not sentiment.
each of imposing size, superbly modeled, standing foursquare on a rectangular base, with head high and turned to the left, the nostrils flared and mouth open to reveal well defined teeth, one a strikingly beautiful black horse with a flowing white mane falling in serrated waves from the arched neck, the forelock parted in front of the pricked ears and combed to the sides above the large eyes and bridge of the nose splashed in cream, the bridle decorated with crisp floret medallions, the saddle covered with a long leaf-green saddlecloth naturalistically textured to simulate fur, furled back at the forward edge to show the cream-colored lining, secured by breast and crupper straps molded with floret studs, all brilliantly contrasted against the rich brownish-black glaze, shading to amber brown along the slender legs, ending in streaks above the cream colored ankles and amber splashed hoofs, the companion horse of an extremely rare ‘strawberry roan’ color, with patches of creamy-white showing through the overall reddish-beige glaze save for the hoofs in cream, the docked tail and hogged mane glazed in rich chestnut parted in front of the ears and with a single lock of mane falling down the shoulder, the large eyes set beneath furrowed brows, the left eye unusually incised with a pupil and iris, the saddle covered with a bright lime-green and cream saddlecloth tied and falling in pleats over two saddle blankets splashed in green and chestnut, all secured by breast and crupper straps molded with florets, knotted behind the saddle with one end trailing down the side of the saddle blanket; of particular note is the pronounced sweep of the back arching dramatically to the high haunches and large lifted rump, continuing to the flourish of the curled tail before tapering at the muscled things and hocks, the beautifully proportioned modeling the identical form confirming both as a fine pair while imparting a distinctive grace and imperious carriage, stands (4)
Provenance
Sotheby's New York, 27th March 2003, lot 36
Condition
Both horses with expected restored breaks to extremities. The black horse: Clean breaks to all four ankles, across the plinth and another across the neck. The mane has several losses to the tips left untouched. The green saddle blanket has small chips along the edges and two missing corner sections. There is a firing crack running vertically down the side of the saddle blanket and several scattered glaze flakes, two visible in the photograph. There is another glaze flake to the chest, a vertical glaze crack on the left, and a horizontal firing crack across the top of the right hind leg. As expected, the pricked ears are restored. The restored tail has been re-attached. Various other minute glaze flakes to legs and hooves. The strawberry roan horse: Clean breaks to all four legs just below the knees, and the hind hooves and plinth restored. The chin strap of the bridle is restored and there is some light re-touching to the lower lip. The ears, the tip of one forelock and the end of the docked tail have been restored. The tip of one forelock is missing. Scattered short firing cracks on the neck. The ends of the rope twisted around the docked tail are chipped. The corners of the saddle blanket where the folds end and the end of the straps on both sides have chips all left as is. There are two horizontal firing cracks on the rump and another between the back legs. General: Overall very good condition. Losses to tips of mane and saddle cloth left untouched. Firing cracks visible as surface has not been repainted.
Catalogue Note
It is rare to find two large Tang horses of sancai-glazed pottery modeled in this way as a complementary pair, with differently colored coats, groomed manes and saddle blankets, but otherwise identically sculpted, of the same powerful build, angle of the head and modeling of the face, and with the musculature identically rendered with distinctive relief modeling and deeply carved grooves. Very few examples of glazed pairs of horses have been published. An important and quite similar pair in the Kyoto National Museum, one with a dappled coat and the other black-glazed similarly to ours, (fig. 5) is illustrated in Mayuyama Seventy Years, Vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, nos. 197 and 198 and again in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Shogakukan Series, Vol. 11, col. pl. 192. A superb unglazed pair of horses was sold at Sotheby’s London, 13th December 1988, lots 49 and 50, and one of them again at Sotheby’s New York, 19th March 1997, lot 203. These horses were similarly conceived as a complementary pair, distinguished in color, the grooming of the manes, and the form of the exotic and western-influenced trappings. Horses have long been a symbol of status and wealth, the representation of a large important pair of distinct and desirable coloration such as the present example, reflect the high rank and importance of the owner and his family. Indeed, Tang dynasty statues as early as 667 assert the ownership of horses as an aristocratic privilege, in an edict forbidding artisans and tradesmen this right.
Black pottery horses are very scarce and are more often seen with a hogged mane, such as the famous horse from the British Rail Pension Fund, which sold for a world record price at Sotheby’s London, 12th December 1989, lot 56, (GBP 3.74 million). That horse had a similar green simulated fur saddle blanket, but the black coat of the animal was interspersed with lighter spots and partly hidden under large trappings. Another example of a black and sancai-glazed caparisoned horse of slightly smaller size was sold in these rooms 21st September 2005, lot 251. There is also a fine example of an also large and with a similarly treated mane but with elaborate trappings in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston illustrated in Wu Tung, Earth Transformed, Boston 2001, pp. 40-41. Another very fine example of a fully caparisoned horse, from the collection of James W. and Marilyn Alsdorf, the body a rich brown color and with a bi-color mane was sold in our London rooms 11th June, 1991, lot 112. The black glaze of the present figure is particularly opaque and slightly iridescent and has been created by applying a second iron-rich coating over the standard amber glaze, which is visible at the ankles. Strawberry roan animals are the rarest type of Tang pottery horses. This unusual glaze tone, used for a chestnut-colored coat interspersed with white hair, was created by covering a white slip with an iron-rich reddish slip, then rubbing part of the latter away before applying a transparent glaze, so that white patches come up through the red. A horse of similar coloration was sold at Sotheby’s London, 9th June 1987, lot 84, from the collection of Mona, Countess von Bismarck. A dappled strawberry-roan glazed horse with similar trappings and a hogged mane, currently in the Toguri museum, is illustrated by Fujio Nakazawa, 'Chinese Ceramics in the Toguri Museum of Art', Orientations, April 1988, p. 43, fig. 1.The different colors of horses appear to have been of particular importance to the Tang emperors, whose favorite horses are described by their coloration. The present two glaze colors were obviously specially developed for a correct representation of particular types of horses- if not even individual steeds- for which the usual sancai range of amber, cream and green would have been too limited. In addition no other glazed figures forming part of the core group of funerary wares display these particular colors indicating the special status reserved for horses. Emperor Taizong (r. 600-673?) had portraits of his six favorite battle chargers carved in stone, the Zhaoling Liujun. Each horse is described by its noble deeds in battle and by its color; bay, deep brown, bright chestnut, bay with a white mouth, pale grey, and black with white hooves.) The Emperor Xuanzong displayed equal passion for his mounts commissioning paintings from the famed artist Han Gan (c. 706-783) In the Lidai minghua ji (‘Record of famous painters of all periods’; 847), Zhang Yanyuan noted that Emperor Xuanzong ‘loved large horses and ordered Han to paint the most noble of his more than 400,000 steeds’, six of these, all bred from the famed Ferghana stock in Central Asia are described by their respective colors, red, purple, scarlet, yellow, ‘clove’ , and ‘peach-flower’ colored, respectively. The most famous of which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ‘Night-shining White’ (Zhaoyebai) and attributed to the artist. Indeed, it is easy to speculate that Han Gan’s distinctive style which captures the animals in spirited movement, emphasizing their powerful, rounded and muscular forms while retaining an easy naturalism, influenced the artisans who sculpted the present pair.
The splendid physical appearance of the present pair, which gives the impression of tamed strength and power, is emphasized by the simplicity of the unadorned harnessing. The same effect can be seen on the famous black-glazed horse with cropped mane and tied saddle cloth, excavated in 1969 from tomb no.120 at Chegedang, Guanlin, near Luoyang in Henan province, which has been frequently illustrated, for example, in Luoyang Tang sancai, Beijing, 1980, pl. 69; and in Zhongguo meishu quanji: Diaosu Bian, vol.4, Beijing, 1988, pl. 197, with a detail on p.202. Many large Tang horses are depicted with elaborate trappings, indicating use of the horse in ceremonial parades, while the plain harness appears to have been customary for more functional outings, and is of a type rarely seen on large sancai horses. The simple harness appears also on the above-mentioned battle horses of Emperor Taizong and in Tang paintings and murals depicting horses mounted for battle or sport. The inclusion of these simple trappings on the present sculptures implies that perhaps they reference military achievement by their illustrious owner. The stone carvings of the former emperor, now in the University Museum of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, Xi’an, are illustrated ibid, pls. 101-106; and several paintings of horses attributed to the Tang are published in The Great Treasure of Chinese Fine Arts: Painting, vol. 2, Beijing, 1988, pls. 10,11,19,21,27 and 30.
The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford authentication Ltd., nos. 766p63 and 766p62.
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