Lot Essay
The art form of these entertainers is called shuochang (talking and singing), which is a type of musical story telling.
Compare the similar figure unearthed in 1982 from the Majiashan tomb No.23, Sanhexiang, Xindu county, Sichuan province, now in the Administrative Office for Cultural Relics, Xindu county, Sichuan province, included in the exhibition, The Quest for Eternity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987, Catalogue, p. 75, no.38 and front cover, and also included in the exhibition China, 5,000 Years, Innovation and Transformation in the Arts, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1998, Catalogue, no. 97. Ezekiel Schloss illustrates another in Ceramic Sculpture from Han through T'ang, Stamford Connecticut, 1977, vol. I, p. 15, fig. 14. A third is illustrated by Barry Till and Paula Swart, Images from the Tomb: Chinese Burial Figurines, Victoria, British Columbia, 1988, p. 82, fig. iv. Similar finds are discussed by Liu Zhiyuan, Kaogu xuebao, 1958, no.1:87-103.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C198g68 is consistent with the dating of this lot
Compare the similar figure unearthed in 1982 from the Majiashan tomb No.23, Sanhexiang, Xindu county, Sichuan province, now in the Administrative Office for Cultural Relics, Xindu county, Sichuan province, included in the exhibition, The Quest for Eternity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987, Catalogue, p. 75, no.38 and front cover, and also included in the exhibition China, 5,000 Years, Innovation and Transformation in the Arts, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1998, Catalogue, no. 97. Ezekiel Schloss illustrates another in Ceramic Sculpture from Han through T'ang, Stamford Connecticut, 1977, vol. I, p. 15, fig. 14. A third is illustrated by Barry Till and Paula Swart, Images from the Tomb: Chinese Burial Figurines, Victoria, British Columbia, 1988, p. 82, fig. iv. Similar finds are discussed by Liu Zhiyuan, Kaogu xuebao, 1958, no.1:87-103.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C198g68 is consistent with the dating of this lot