Two Rare Miniature Blue, Amber and White-Glazed Pottery Animals

TANG DYNASTY, 7TH-8TH CENTURY

Details

Two Rare Miniature Blue, Amber and White-Glazed Pottery Animals
Tang dynasty, 7th-8th century
One a whistle molded as a seated duck with head turned slightly to the side, and legs molded under the body, with an aperture in the breast and a smaller one on each side of the back, striped and detailed in blue, amber and cream glaze; the other a miniature figure of a Bactrian camel standing on a ring base, with a pack slung between the humps atop the fringed oval blanket, splash-glazed in blue, amber and cream
3in. (7.6cm.) long, box and 3 1/8in. (7.9cm.) high
Falk Collection nos. 37 and 230. (2)

Provenance

Duck whistle: Howard Hollis & Company, Cleveland, December 1951.
Camel: Harry Nail, San Francisco 1964.

Literature

Duck whistle: E. Capon, Tang China: Vision and Splendour of a Golden Age, London, 1989, p. 61 (center).

Exhibited

Duck whistle: Small Sculpture: Shang Through Sung Dynasties, New York, Chinese Art Society, 1954, no. 64.
The Animal in Chinese Art, London, Oriental Ceramic Society, 1968, no. 278.
Animals and Birds in Chinese Art, New York, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1968, no. 41.
Camel: Early Chinese Miniatures, New York, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1977, no. 157.

Lot Essay

Excavations of childrens' tombs of Tang dynasty date have included miniature replicas of animals, servants, houses and cooking implements, indicating that just like adults, the deceased children were to be accompanied into the afterlife with what was familiar to them during their life. In his catalogue for the exhibition, Early Chinese Miniatures, 1977, Dr. Paul Singer mentions a paper by Tang Jinyu, "Brief report on the excavation of the tomb of Li Jingxun of the Sui dynasty in the western suburbs of Sian", Kaogu 1959, no. 8. Li Jingxun was a child of nine when she died, and the only child of a socially prominent family. When found, her tomb was intact and filled with "exquisite objects of diminutive size".

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