A LARGE PAINTED RED POTTERY FIGURE OF A LOKAPALA

TANG DYNASTY

Details

A LARGE PAINTED RED POTTERY FIGURE OF A LOKAPALA
Tang Dynasty
Modeled standing triumphantly on the leg and arm of a monkey-like demon crouching on the pierced rockwork base, the lokapala with a pugnacious expression detailed in black, wearing a cap with tall plume, and layered armor belted below the belly with a sash tied in loops at the sides, the monkey-like demon with deeply sunken eyes, frizzy hair, pointed ears and tri-clawed hands and feet, with traces of red, black, purple and white pigment remaining
35in. (95.2cm.) high

Lot Essay

The monkey-like demon in this group appears to be very unusual, although one is seen beneath the feet of a lokapala included in the exhibition, The Silk Road, Treasures of Tang China, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1991, Catalogue, p. 95. This lokapala and its mate, op. cit., p. 94, were unearthed in 1972, in Xian, Shaanxi province. Compare, also, another deva guardian vadijra, excavated in 1996 from a tomb in the suburbs of Xian, illustrated in Gems of China's Cultural Relics 1997, no. 136, which has a very similar face as well as armor and posture.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C97c84 is consistent with the dating of this lot