A rare Umayyad Pottery Horse Figurine, Spain, 10th century

of naturalistic form, hollow with a hole at the top of the saddle, modelled with applied elements heightened with green and purple lead glazes, with bespoke stand

The body and bichrome glaze of this piece are highly reminiscent of those of some of the ceramic wares found in the excavations at Madinat al-Zahra (for examples, see Le vert et le brun, Marseilles, 1995, pp.114-117, nos.97, 98 and 100-105). Though other zoomorphic vessels are known from Islamic Spain, both in metal and ceramics (see, for instance, Andrés Bazzana, La Cerámica islámica en la cuidad de Valencia [I] Catálogo, Valencia, 1983, p.156, Pl.IV), no other example of this form is recorded from the Madinat al-Zahra group.