Why do so many listings say Marly or Marley?

It's the same subject, spelt two ways. The Marly Horses after Coustou make up roughly a quarter of everything in the category, and dealers divide almost evenly between the two spellings. Searching one spelling alone will miss a good part of what's listed.

Are horse sculptures always sold in pairs?

No. Just under a quarter of titles use the word pair, and those are mostly the two opposed Marly Horses. Singles appear throughout, including single horse-with-groom casts from the same model. Pairs turn up at every level of the range but gather in the upper half.

What does 'after Coustou' mean on a bronze?

It means the piece follows Coustou's model without being his own work. The original Marly Horses are monumental marbles; what comes to market are later casts and reductions at domestic scale. The wording recurs across the category, nearly always with Coustou named. In the range, an attributed original sits above a piece described this way.

How common are Japanese horse bronzes?

Japan is the second nationality of the category after France, at around one title in eight. They're dated by reign period, Meiji, Taisho and Showa, with Taisho the one that appears most in titles. Bronze okimono and foundry-signed horses form a coherent group, and boxwood netsuke horses turn up alongside them.

Is everything in this category bronze?

Bronze carries just under three quarters of the titles, so it dominates, but the remainder is varied. Carved wood, cast iron, cast silver, spelter, leather, boxwood, marble dust, specimen marble, hardstone and sancai-glazed pottery have all been listed. The non-bronze pieces cluster at the lower end of the range.

How often do these come up for sale?

Around twenty horse sculptures reach the market on Sellingantiques in a year. Seventy-four different dealers have listed one, which tells you this is a subject almost nobody specialises in and almost everyone handles at some point.

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Antique Horse Sculptures

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Free-standing horse figures, cast for the most part in bronze, made as decorative sculpture for the table, mantel and hall from desk scale up to life size.