Ceramic Persian Or Oriental Horse

Pottery : Horses

 

I picked this up at an Eau Claire Auction, years ago. It was the family of a retired lifer, and Army officer who had served in Europe during WWII. It looked terrible. What is now white crackle glaze was painted over in the worst looking brown paint, that was also antiqued and streaked, and what is now brown, was painted over in white. All of that paint was chipping off all over so the result was that from far away, to the naked eye, it looked like an old piece of chalkware that was chipped in many many places. I bought it because I love horses and anything that looks oriental or persian. A few years later I was reading through some old (1970's) Antique Traders, when something in the 'questions about your antiques column' section caught my eye. It was a family from Eau Claire, Wisconsin telling the story of an oriental looking horse statue that their father had 'rescued' from Germany during WWII. The more that I read, the more I was convinced that it was the same piece that I had later bought. I should have cut it out or saved the entire paper and put it with the horse, but of course, I didn't. Anyway, the column author was quite excited and said that there were many many valuable pieces that had come home to America in the same mannor and that they m ight have something very valuable. Anyway, this Oriental 'Ming' horse figurine is 16 7/8" tall, and 13 1/2" long. It sits on an attached base that is 8 1/2" long and 6 11/16" wide. The horse itself is glazed in a 'crackle' glaze, while the saddle and the brown trim on the base is unglazed, and stained in brown. There are some chips on the corners of the base as you can see by the photographs. I have many more photographs available including a close up of the saddle with the white overpaint on it before I started cleaning it up. It was easy to remove the brown paint from thw white crackle glaze, but the saddle was a job!!!! This is not solid cast, but is a hollow piece.!!!! I think it is special!!! I am no expert, but it may be very special!!!! If any of you have any insight, be sure to email me. Happy Collecting!!!!

Item ID: vlo2603