9 cm. high (3 1/2 in.)

Han dynasty representations of horses in pottery, wood and bronze are abundant but three-dimensional jade carvings of horses attributable to the Han dynasty are exceedingly rare. Only one other closely comparable example appears to have been published, the head and bust of a horse in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, London, illustrated by M. Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, front cover. Whilst the position of the horse’s neck in the Victoria and Albert Museum example is a little more stooped over, the wonderful strength and vigour of the carving depicting the horse’s features is very similar in both examples. Compare, also, a Han dynasty jade figure of an immortal riding a celestial horse excavated in Xianyang City, Shaanxi in 1966, now in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Provincial Museum, illustrated by Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. I, Shijiazhuang, 2005, p. 368, fig. 147. The position of the horse’s head, with its mouth agape, is closely related to the way in which the present head is depicted.
Other less-defined Han dynasty jade carvings of horse’s heads include one in the British Museum, illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 358, no. 26:1, and two examples in the Winthrop Collection at Harvard University, illustrated by M. Loehr and Huber, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Harvard, 1975, nos. 561 and 562. 

Price estimate:
HKD: 120,000-220,000
USD: 15,500-28,400

Auction Result:
HKD:2,360,000