Important Ancient Chinese Military Great Ming Army Collection,
Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

Unique collecting opportunity.

This powerful Chinese Ming Tomb collection of army figures dates to China’s grand Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and numbers forty (40) militia men strong.

Each sculpture was carefully hand crafted in pottery over 500 years ago undoubtedly for an elite family and military personage. Beyond its sheer number and scope, each sculpture from this army still retain their remarkable original hand applied glazes in tact: beautiful greens, blues, creams, black, and yellow colors.

Included are nine horsemen and thirty one infantry men totaling forty (40) works of art- a grand army!

The nine horsemen wear special detailed armor protection and are mounted on steeds four square. They are carefully hand painted and hand glazed in green and blue glazes with realistic equine trappings.

The thirty one infantry men hand glazed in greens, yellows, black, and red highlights brandish fine weaponry of the day. They all clutch an impressive array of advanced Chinese weapons: maces, swords, lances, halberds, shields, and GE a type of Chinese pole weapon. Some infantrymen carry bows which are typical short bows favored by the mongol armies. It was in the Ming dynasty, that the Chinese invented the Iron Grenade as well as the three-holed blunderbuss.

Also present are army men brandishing shields which have a mask carved on them to purposely terrify their opponents!

The statues are all beautifully glazed in turquoise, cobalt blue, green, and yellow amber colors and high lighted with cold painted red, black, and white pigments – a superior feature combination not often found on these works of art and representative of an important tomb which deserved highest quality pottery votive representations.

Condition: Superb, all figures are original and intact with finely preserved glazes and pigments.

Dimensions:
Horsemen: 12 inches high
Infantrymen: 9.5 inches high

All are guaranteed to be crafted during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). A thermoluminescence TL report sampling accurately confirms age of these sculptures from 500-600 years ago (see photo).

While individual pieces may appear in the marketplace from time to time, a complete army of this scope is truly a rare find and collecting opportunity.

Provenance: Old European collection originally acquired in Hong Kong 1990s and legally imported into the USA.

Please feel free to contact us for additional details. We may be able to show you this remarkable army collection with reasonable lead time and by appointment on the east coast.

History:
The Ming dynasty then known as the Empire of the Great Ming ruled China for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. This dynasty has been described as one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history and was the last imperial dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese.

Lifetime guarantee of authenticity: All of our Asian works of art come with our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee.