Heavenly Tang Horses from the Matsuoka Museum of Art in Tokyo

Greetings from New York! I’m currently visiting one of my favourite cities in the world for the twice-annual Asia Week, North America’s major event for Asian art auctions. I’ll be writing more about this trip in my next blog where I’ll share all the Asian art highlights I’ve seen, so please stay tuned!

For now, and as promised, I want to continue with the rest of my big summer journey, which took me from San Francisco to Hong Kong and Tokyo over a three-week period from late August to early September.

In my last blog, I discussed viewing the incredible Sotheby’s auction preview in Hong Kong, which featured Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, as well as the opening of the new exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Engaging Past Wisdom: Min Chiu Society at Sixty-Five.

Immediately following my time in Hong Kong, I flew to Tokyo for five nights on my journey back to Toronto. Tokyo has always been one of the best cities to visit, and since the end of the pandemic, I’ve been visiting at least once a year to enjoy its wonderful food, shopping, and museums.

Museum visits in Tokyo are always a special treat. In addition to the main institution, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, there are numerous smaller private museums that regularly rotate their displays. These include the Idemitsu Museum, the Nezu Museum, and the Seikado Bunko Art Museum. On this visit, I was also able to stop by the Matsuoka Museum of Art in the Minato district, just south of Shibuya.

I haven't visited the Matsuoka Museum in about ten years. The museum was founded in 1975 by Seijiro Matsuoka (1894–1989), a real estate developer who initially made his fortune as a jewellery dealer in the 1920s. He later became a prominent Japanese businessman, expanding his wealth through office building real estate, frozen food storage, and hotels during the 1950s.

The Matsuoka Museum’s collection is eclectic in nature and is best known for its modern and contemporary art. One of the highlights is Alberto Giacometti’s Le Chat (The Cat) (which, unfortunately, cannot be photographed). Within the Asian collection, the museum also features works from Japan, Korea, China, and South Asia. For this post, however, I want to focus on their wonderful selection of Chinese ceramics and porcelain, as well as their Buddhist art from China and South Asia.

With respect to their Chinese ceramics, the Matsukoa Museum is renowned for their famous ceramic horses from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). During this particular visit, the majority of them were on display.

As Chinese art lovers know, Japan is known for its collections of Tang horses, many of which were acquired during the peak of the Chinese ceramic market in the 1980s and 1990s. These works were primarily purchased at major international auctions such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s, and often fetched hefty prices.

At the time, these horses represented the pinnacle of the Chinese art market and were a strong marker of status within an important Chinese art collection. Perhaps the most famous example was the (then) world-record price achieved for a Chinese work of art - a Tang Dynasty horse formerly from the British Rail Pension Fund that sold for £3.74 million (approximately CAD 7.5 million) at Sotheby’s London on 12 December 1989, lot 56.

Image 1. An old catalogue photo of the (then) record-breaking Tang horse from the 1989 Sotheby's catalogue.

Typically, the most desirable Tang horses are large in size, adopt a regal pose, feature intricate decorative details, and are decorated with sancai 三彩 (three-coloured) glaze consisting of orange, brown and green. The rarity of the glaze is particularly important, setting these apart from more common horses, which are generally moulded and finished with a plain straw glaze or left in buff (unpigmented or unglazed). These horses are funerary items and would have been buried with high ranking nobles, dignitaries and members of the ruling class.

Nonetheless the Chinese art market has shifted over the past thirty years now and is surpassed by the top Chinese Imperial objects including mark and period porcelain from the Ming and Qing Dynasty.

Anyways, let's visit the Matsuoka Museum!

Image 2. A view of the museum's main entrance. This large building was formerly Seijiro Matsuoka's residence and in 1975 was converted into a museum. More recently during the pandemic, the museum was closed down for modernization renovations.

Image 3. A view of the second floor gallery containing the Chinese art items. In the central display case is one of the most globally recognized Tang Dynasty horses.

Image 4a. This famous Tang horse is exceptionally large in size, has an air of nobility and some of the most beautiful sancai glazing. The horse stands very composed with strong definition of its musculature throughout. The lines in the neck and face are also very well-accentuated. Some of the horse's details are stunning including the dripping tassels and rosettes on its bridle and saddle area.

Image 4a. A detail of the reverse side of this stunning Tang horse.

Image 5. Here is another example of a Tang horse at the Matsuoka Museum. This one is not as large as the famous horse, but also has a fine sancai glazing throughout. Its unique pose with the neck bent over is rare for Tang hoses and gives it a sense of dynamism.

Image 6. This example of a Tang horse is simply stunning with its dark brownish-orange body and the very sculptural mane. I also love the three-dimensional aspect of its saddle which almost looks like an abstract painting/sculpture.

Image 7. And this is the last horse that was on display at the Matsuoka Museum. It is slightly smaller than the other examples, and much more simplistic in its design and details. However, in addition to the sancai glaze, it features the extremely rare cobalt blue glaze on its saddle area and bridle. This colour was extremely expensive and difficult to acquire since it had to be imported from Persia. As a result, this horse would have been extremely expensive to produce and made for a wealthy individual.

Image 8. At the Matsuoka Museum was another Tang Dynasty animal, this time a sancai camel. It is also very well-glazed in the tri-colour palette and notable for its tall and sturdy legs. These camels would have been iconic animals during the Tang Dynasty since they were essential modes of transportation along the ancient trade route, the Silk Road.

Image 9. There were other important Chinese artworks on display during my visit to the Matsuoka Museum. In particular, I was attracted to this very rare bronze age hu-shaped vessel from the Late Shang Dynasty (13th-11th Century BCE). It has well-cast details in the taotie animal mask on its main body, and also a ram's-head mounting along the neck.

Image 10. Within the porcelain pieces from the Ming Dynasty at the museum, I really liked this blue and white five-lobed basin with Wanli Mark and Period (1573-1620). It has the endearing design of the mythical Qilyn, a beast with the body and head of a dragon, the mane of a lion, and the legs of a goat. It stands on a raised platform and is being regaled by other animals.

Image 11. The other Ming Dynasty piece I was found lovely was this wucai 五彩 (five-coloured) fish jar with Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). I've seen a lot of similar Ming Dynasty fish jars over the past year at major auctions, the Guimet Museum and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

These jars are renowned for their bold and large design of colourful fish in different phases of twisting and turning within the water. These fish are supposed to symbolize the Daoist belief that being a fish is a state of carefree existence, and one that humanity should follow.

Image 12. The Matsuoka Museum is also well-known for their Chinese Buddhist art sculpures. They were all located on the ground floor with lots of natural light coming in from the traditional Japanese garden outside.

This example is a large marble figure of a seated Buddha from the Liao/Jin Dynasty (12th Century). This sculpture is very graceful in its composition, and I like how the simple cloak have a cloud-like patterns carved into them.

Image 13. In this photo is a very impressive (and tall!) limestone figure of a standing Chinese Buddha. This sculpture is dated to the Northern to Southern Dynasties (6th Century) and has very stylized features. The Buddha is wearing simple attire and with his right hand in the gesture of 'no fear'.

Image 13. And here's my favourite Buddhist sculpture at the Matsuoka Museum. This is a marble bust of a Buddha from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The face is very well-carved with its gentle features and downcast eyes. The flaming halo in the back is particularly interesting because in the details you can see smaller seated Buddhas amongst the scrolling vine.

Image 14. And finally, the South Asian sculptures at the Matusoka Museum are also notable, with their most famous piece being this grey schist figure of a pensive bodhisattva from the 3rd Century.

Bodhisattvas are enlightened Buddhist beings who chose to remain in the earthly realm to ease humanity's suffering. This figure was produced in the Ancient Region of Gandhara (modern day Pakistan) and you can clearly see the Greco-Roman influences typical of these types of figure. The quality of the carving is extremely naturalistic with his legs raised onto the throne, and his right hand resting on a knee.

Image 15a. The Matsuoka Museum also had a small gift store beside the main entrance that sold souvenirs, postcards, and books. This blue covered book I purchased contains highlights of the museum's eastern art collection and includes works form Japan, Korea and China. (I actually had a copy from my visit ten years ago but after lending it to someone, I never got it back!)

Image 15b. The other book I purchased was titled 'Ancient Asian Sculptures from the Matsuoka Collection' and contains the Chinese and South Asian sculptures located on the first floor. On the cover is the above-mentioned pensive bodhisattva.

Thank you for reading this latest blog and I will keep everyone posted about my upcoming travels. My next entry will go through highlights from my visit to Asia Week New York. You can always stay current with my Asian art adventures by viewing my Instagram page @anthonywuart.