A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN OFFICIAL

Details
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN OFFICIAL
TANG DYNASTY

Shown standing atop a pierced rockwork base with his hands clasping a gui, his three-quarter-length tunic glazed in green with amber, green and cream-splashed cloud collar and sleeve borders worn over layers of armor variously glazed in amber or splash-glazed, his long skirt glazed in cream with an amber fringe hem, the plain central and two diaper-scored sashes hanging on the sides glazed in amber and the knotted sash in back glazed green, his face unglazed and detailed in black, as are his hair and his official's cap (some restoration)
44 3/4in. (113.7cm.) high

Lot Essay

For a closely related example, but on a rockwork base, see Lin Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics: Early Wares, Prehistoric to Tenth Century, Taipei, 1991, p. 247, top right

Refer to figures of officials excavated in Xi'an from the tomb of Prince Zhanghuai (died 701) and discussed in Wenwu 1972:7, pp. 13-19 and illustrated on p. 20, figs. 8 and 9, and from the tomb of Prince Yide (died 701), op. cit., pp. 26-31. See, also, the pair of figures excavated near the eastern suburb of Xi'an, from the tomb of Dugu Sizhen, who was thought to be a member of the Tang ruling class and who died in 697, illustrated in Excavation of the Sui and Tang Tombs of Xi'an, Institute of Archaeology, pls. XLII, XLIII and XLIV; see, also, the placement of the pair in the tomb, op. cit, p. 32, figs. 21 and 22. Compare, also, the pair of officials in the Los Angeles County Museum, illustrated by Kuwayama, The Joy of Collecting, nos. 36 and 37; and the figure illustrated by W. P. Yetts in the Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue, vol. I, London, 1929, col. pl. XXXVI

For a discussion of official dress see Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, 1977, vol. I, pp. 71 and 72