Lot Essay
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 566p99 is consistent with the dating of this lot
For an almost identical model of this camel see Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, pl. 172. For other versions of Wei camels with heavy loads see the sale of Christie's London, 12 June, 1989, lot 124A for a beast also carrying an animal slung from the saddle cloth; A. L. Juliano, Bronze, Clay and Stone, Chinese Art from the C. C. Wang Family Collection, col. pl. 39. Another, illustrated in Art of the Six Dynasties Catalogue, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, pl. 35, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Schloss, is shown kneeling and laden with food, water flasks and bedding
The Wei Dynasty period (6th century) was bedeviled by political instability, but, despite this, communications along the Central Asian land routes continued. Camels provided the most dependable means of transportation, able as they were to carry such heavy loads and to survive the rigors of heat and cold. The appearance of Bactrian camels in Northern Wei pottery testifies to the impact of this animal from present day Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan bringing not only foreign goods and merchants but presumably Buddhist missionaries en route from India
For an almost identical model of this camel see Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, pl. 172. For other versions of Wei camels with heavy loads see the sale of Christie's London, 12 June, 1989, lot 124A for a beast also carrying an animal slung from the saddle cloth; A. L. Juliano, Bronze, Clay and Stone, Chinese Art from the C. C. Wang Family Collection, col. pl. 39. Another, illustrated in Art of the Six Dynasties Catalogue, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, pl. 35, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Schloss, is shown kneeling and laden with food, water flasks and bedding
The Wei Dynasty period (6th century) was bedeviled by political instability, but, despite this, communications along the Central Asian land routes continued. Camels provided the most dependable means of transportation, able as they were to carry such heavy loads and to survive the rigors of heat and cold. The appearance of Bactrian camels in Northern Wei pottery testifies to the impact of this animal from present day Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan bringing not only foreign goods and merchants but presumably Buddhist missionaries en route from India