A Horse That Visited The White House

Presented to Ronald and Nancy Reagan by Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang during his visit to Washington in 1984, this sancai-style horse was kept at the White House before being moved to the presidential couple’s California home.

This sculpture, created in the 20th-century, draws on the stylistic elements of the Sancai horses of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Characterized by their polychrome glazes—particularly green, yellow, and amber—these animals are among the most famous forms of Chinese funerary ceramics from the Tang Dynasty. This piece translates that artistic language into a sculpture with blue and sancai glazes, mounted on a wooden base. The horse was presented to Ronald and Nancy Reagan by Zhao Ziyang, then Premier, during his official visit to the United States in January 1984. Diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing had been established only five years earlier, in January 1979. Zhao was received at the White House by Reagan on January 10; the two leaders discussed, among other things, the development of bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries. Reagan, in turn, would visit China a few months later, in April and May 1984. The U. S. registry of gifts received that year specifically describes a “reproduction of a Tang tri-colored pottery horse,” with a wooden base and a presentation plaque, received on January 12,1984. The item was valued at $1,200 at the time. It was displayed at the White House during Reagan’s presidency and later moved to his private residence in California. Nearly thirty years later, the piece reappeared at Christie’s in New York during the auction of “The Private Collection of President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan” in September 2016. Estimated at the time at between $2,000 and$3,000, it ultimately sold for $50,000, driven by its prestigious provenance.