Dimensions: Height 18,5 cm - 30 cm
Weight: 3230 grams all

Comprising five figures, including two horses with their attendants and three foreign envoys, one mounted, all covered in a lively sancai palette of green, amber, and cream. The riders and attendants wear long belted robes, high conical or peaked hats, their faces individually modelled with distinctive features suggesting Central Asian origin, and their hands raised as if in gesture of offering or greeting. The horses, similarly glazed in amber with trappings picked out in green, stand foursquare, their expressive heads turned slightly to the side.

The group vividly illustrates the presence of tributary missions and foreign emissaries at the Ming court, reflecting China’s engagement with the wider world along the Silk Road and maritime routes. Such pottery ensembles were likely intended for tombs of high-ranking officials, symbolising both worldly connections and the enduring power of the dynasty.

The present figures retain much of their original glaze, with areas of wear and burial encrustation consistent with age, lending a warm, time-softened character.

Comparable Ming sancai figures of foreign envoys with horses are recorded in the collections of the Musée Guimet, Paris, and the Shanghai Museum. Related examples have appeared at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in sales of Chinese tomb figures, underscoring the enduring importance of such groups in the study of Ming mortuary art.

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