TWO PAINTED RED POTTERY FIGURES OF COURTIERS

Details

TWO PAINTED RED POTTERY FIGURES OF COURTIERS
TANG DYNASTY

One a 'fat lady' standing with her body swayed to one side and her hands clasped below her waist within the full sleeves of her long robes, her full face framed by the curve of her helmet-like coif which terminates in front in a pouf; the man, also rather portly, shown with one hand held at his chest, the other at his low-slung belt, both hidden within the voluminous sleeves of the full robes, the position of his head and the modeling of his face implying an imperious attitude, his hair gathered up into a large topknot beneath a cloth cap; both with traces of orange, red and black pigment and white slip
14 5/8 and 15 3/8 in. (37.1 and 39cm.) high

Lot Essay

For a very closely related figure of a woman, both in stance and in coiffure, see Suzanne Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pp. 66-67, no. 59; and for a related figure of a man see Zui to no Bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1978, p. 22, 1-181