A RARE MASSIVE BLACK-PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A PREGNANT SOW

HAN DYNASTY

细节

A RARE MASSIVE BLACK-PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A PREGNANT SOW
Han Dynasty
Realistically modeled standing foursquare with head facing forward, with large floppy ears, thin wavy tail and low, full belly modeled with nipples, covered overall in black pigment splotched in white; together with a small gray pottery figure of a pig, also realistically modeled, with traces of black pigment and burial encrustation
25 and 10in. (64.8 and 26cm.) long (2)

拍品专文

Figures of pigs are quite well known among Han dynasty mingqi. However, pigs of this exceptional size and verisimilitude are not. A smaller version from the Jingguantang Collection was included in the exhibition, Art Treasures from Shanghai and Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Art Gallery, November 1996 - January 1997, p. 82, no. 14 and sold in these rooms together with a male pig, 18 September 1997, lot 129. A pair of pregnant pottery pigs measuring 44cm. long were excavated from the attendant pits of the Yanling Mausoleum of the Han Emperor Jingdi and illustrated in line drawings in Wenwu 1994:6, p. 14, fig. 19.1. An excavated example of smaller size from tomb no. 2 at Hejiashan, Mianyang city is illustrated in Wenwu 1991: 3, p. 11, fig. 8.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C198m26 is consistent with the dating of the large sow