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Lot Essay
While depictions of boys were a popular theme in the Song dynasty, such large pottery figures as the present boy are extremely rare. The theme expresses the wish for many male children, and boys appear as decoration in every media, including qingbai and Yaozhou wares and as the figural base of pillows. Song-dynasty miniature pottery figures can also be found, such as a group of five Northern Song miniature red pottery boys in the Zhengjiang City Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan: taocijuan (The Compendium of Chinese Archaeological Treasures: Ceramics Volume), Hong Kong, 1993, p. 171, no. 584. A rare miniature Ding figure of a boy from the Falk Collection was sold at Christie’s New York, 16 October 2001.
The current life-size figure of a boy is extremely rare. A related pottery figure of a boy, seated with the hands raised and of comparable size (31.7 cm.) to the present figure was offered at Sotheby’s New York, 21 September 2005, lot 60. This related figure also wears with bracelets and an amulet at the neck, but is molded and painted with clothing.
When the present figure was included in the exhibition Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, it was noted that “Song historical tests and archaeological discoveries indicate that this type of pottery doll (nihai’er), elaborately dressed with real clothes and jewelry, was made for the Qixi Festival (the seventh day of the seventh lunar month) and kept in people’s homes to express the wish for many male children.” (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/775525)
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no.C205m5 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
The current life-size figure of a boy is extremely rare. A related pottery figure of a boy, seated with the hands raised and of comparable size (31.7 cm.) to the present figure was offered at Sotheby’s New York, 21 September 2005, lot 60. This related figure also wears with bracelets and an amulet at the neck, but is molded and painted with clothing.
When the present figure was included in the exhibition Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, it was noted that “Song historical tests and archaeological discoveries indicate that this type of pottery doll (nihai’er), elaborately dressed with real clothes and jewelry, was made for the Qixi Festival (the seventh day of the seventh lunar month) and kept in people’s homes to express the wish for many male children.” (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/775525)
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no.C205m5 is consistent with the dating of this lot.