Lot 2701
2701
TWO IMPRESSIVE LARGE PAINTED STUCCO HEADS OF GUARDIAN KINGS
TWO IMPRESSIVE LARGE PAINTED STUCCO HEADS OF GUARDIAN KINGS
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TWO IMPRESSIVE LARGE PAINTED STUCCO HEADS OF GUARDIAN KINGS

HEAD PAINTED IN WHITE: NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (960-1127) HEAD PAINTED IN RED: MING DYNASTY OR EARLIER

Details
TWO IMPRESSIVE LARGE PAINTED STUCCO HEADS OF GUARDIAN KINGS
HEAD PAINTED IN WHITE: NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (960-1127) HEAD PAINTED IN RED: MING DYNASTY OR EARLIER
The head painted in white is well modelled with a fierce expression and a large domed forehead. The mouth is closed, his bulging eyes reveal black glass pupils within the deep sockets below a furrowed brow. The hair is rolled in segments at the hairline and pulled up into a topknot. The lips are painted in dark red, and the brows, moustache and beard are detailed in black against the stark white skin. The other is also well modelled in brownish-red with a scowling, theatrical expression and a large domed forehead. He has bulging eyes inlaid with black glass pupils below bushy eyebrows. A wispy beard, mustache and eyebrows are detailed in black against a brownish-red complexion. The hair is drawn up into a top-knot and his mouth wide open in a threatening shout.
Head painted in white: 19 5/8 in. (50 cm.) high, 11 1/8 in. (28 cm.) wide; head painted in red: 22 in. (56 cm.) high, 11 ¼ in. (28.6 cm.) wide, stands
Provenance
Chang Wei-Hwa & Company, Taipei, acquired in the 1980s

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Lot Essay

These heads are remarkable for their dramatic expressions. Compare to a guardian figure retaining the original body, similarly modelled in stucco and painted in red, preserved in the Guangsheng Temple in Hongdong county, Shanxi province, illustrated in Zhongguo siguan diaosu quanji – 3- Lioa Jin Yuan siguan zaoxiang, Heilongjiang, 2005, no. 186 (fig. 1).

Compare also to a number of large stone guardian figures carved with similar grimace and bulging eyes below a furrowed brow, dating to either the Northern Song or Southern Song dynasty, illustrated in Dazu shike diaosu quanji-Nanshan, Shimenshan, Shizhuanshan den shiku juan (The Complete Collection of the Stone of Sculpture of Dazu), Chongqing, 1999, pp. 19, 69-72 and 98, pls. 20, 72-75 and 104.

The results of the C14 test from Paleo Labon Co., Ltd. sample numbers HK/RCPL/20/173 and HK/RCPL/20/174 are consistent with the dating of the two stucco heads respectively.

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