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Figurine of a horse.
Low-fired earthenware vessels and tomb figurines were often decorated
with polychrome lead glazes during the Tang dynasty. These glazes are
normally referred to as three-colour or sancai, although the number of
colours is not always restricted to three. The figurine of the horse
is an example of sancai. A substantial number of earthenware tomb figurines were made during
the Tang dynasty. These figurines included soldiers, servants,
musicians, tomb guardians, horses and camels, amongst others. They
were placed in the tomb to provide for the needs of the dead. The horse figurine forms part of the Davis Collection, a collection
comprising some 130 items of Chinese ceramics, complemented by a
library of books on the subject. On his death in 1948, Judge RPB Davis
bequeathed his collection to the South African Museum (SAM) in Cape
Town. The collection remained at the SAM until the early 1960s when
the then South African Cultural History Museum (SACHM) was
established. Some cultural history collections from SAM were
transferred to the SACHM at this time, including the Davis Collection. Reginald Percy Basil Davis was born in London in 1881. At the age of
four he arrived in South Africa with his parents, first settling in
Kimberley and later in Cape Town. In 1935 he was appointed as a judge,
and acted as Judge of Appeal from 1944 to 1948. Shortly before his
death in 1948 he was appointed Judge President of the Cape. Judge Davis travelled extensively and visited many places around the
world, amongst others Beijing (then known as Peking) in 1932 and 1933.
In 1935 he travelled to London to attend the International Exhibition
of Chinese Art, and in 1945 he joined the famous collector and
connoisseur of Chinese art, Sir Percival David, and his wife on a tour
of the United States of America and Canada. Davis Collection (SACHM4502)
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