Lot Essay
Ceramic figures of lions are relatively rare compared to carved stone examples. Among the ceramic lions, most of the known public examples are sancai-glazed and smaller than the present example.
A similar white-glazed lion but seated on a hexagonal base is illustrated by William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, Fribourg, 1984, fig. 252. Another on a circular base, not rockwork, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated, idem, fig. 24. Another from the Seattle Art Museum, was included in the exhibition, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 1957, Catalogue, no. 272e. The same example is also illustrated by Junkichi Mayuyama, Chinese Ceramics in the West, A Compendium of Chinese Ceramic Masterpieces in European and American Collections, Tokyo, 1960, Catalogue, no. 9.
Closely related sancai-glazed lions are illustrated by William Watson, op. cit., p. 204, fig. 225, from the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, and p. 214, fig. 253, from the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., and also illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha, Japan, 1983, vol. 9, fig. 15. Other sancai versions either scratching or licking themselves are illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, Kawade Shobo, Japan, 1961, vol. 9, figs. 120 and 121, and again in Sekai toji zenshu, Shogakukan, Japan, 1976, vol. 11, pp. 86 and 87, col. pls. 66 and 67; in the Exhibition of Eastern Art, Tokyo National Museum, 1968, Catalogue, no. 382; in Zhonghua wuqian nian wenwu jikan (Tang Sancai), Taipei, 1984, p. 153, fig. 152.
A pair of lions with one leg raised were found in 1985 in the burial chamber of a stupa in the Qingshan Monastery in Lintongxian, near Xian. They were placed in the chamber with the relics of the Buddha. Other objects included offerings: three-color glazed vessels on which were placed ceramic and blown glass models of fruits, etc., and two small reliquary coffins, the inner one of gold and the outer of silver, both enclosed within a stone casket in the shape of a square pagoda. See Wang Ling, 'Report from China', Oriental Art, Summer, 1987, vol. XXXIII, pp. 208-211, no. 2.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C298a34 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
A similar white-glazed lion but seated on a hexagonal base is illustrated by William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, Fribourg, 1984, fig. 252. Another on a circular base, not rockwork, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated, idem, fig. 24. Another from the Seattle Art Museum, was included in the exhibition, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 1957, Catalogue, no. 272e. The same example is also illustrated by Junkichi Mayuyama, Chinese Ceramics in the West, A Compendium of Chinese Ceramic Masterpieces in European and American Collections, Tokyo, 1960, Catalogue, no. 9.
Closely related sancai-glazed lions are illustrated by William Watson, op. cit., p. 204, fig. 225, from the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, and p. 214, fig. 253, from the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., and also illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha, Japan, 1983, vol. 9, fig. 15. Other sancai versions either scratching or licking themselves are illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, Kawade Shobo, Japan, 1961, vol. 9, figs. 120 and 121, and again in Sekai toji zenshu, Shogakukan, Japan, 1976, vol. 11, pp. 86 and 87, col. pls. 66 and 67; in the Exhibition of Eastern Art, Tokyo National Museum, 1968, Catalogue, no. 382; in Zhonghua wuqian nian wenwu jikan (Tang Sancai), Taipei, 1984, p. 153, fig. 152.
A pair of lions with one leg raised were found in 1985 in the burial chamber of a stupa in the Qingshan Monastery in Lintongxian, near Xian. They were placed in the chamber with the relics of the Buddha. Other objects included offerings: three-color glazed vessels on which were placed ceramic and blown glass models of fruits, etc., and two small reliquary coffins, the inner one of gold and the outer of silver, both enclosed within a stone casket in the shape of a square pagoda. See Wang Ling, 'Report from China', Oriental Art, Summer, 1987, vol. XXXIII, pp. 208-211, no. 2.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C298a34 is consistent with the dating of this lot.