拍品專文
Compare the slightly larger sancai-glazed camel with head raised and monster-mask saddle bags illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Tokyo, 1961, vol. 9, pl. 126; one included in the exhibition, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, illustrated by S.Valenstein in the Catalogue, no. 22; and another with closed mouth illustated in The Art of Glazed Pottery of China, Beijing, 1989, pl. 217
The Bactrian camel was not indigenous to China. Refer to Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, vol. I, pl. 220, where he discusses the importation of tens of thousands of camels from the states of the Tarin Basin, eastern Turkestan and Mongolia. The Tang state even created a special office to supervise the imperial camel herds which carried out various state assignments including military courier service for the Northern Frontier. The camel was also used by the court and merchants for local transportation and, of course, were the 'ships of the desert' linking China to the oasis cities of central Asia, Samarkand, Persia, and Syria
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 366g89 is consistent with the dating of this lot
The Bactrian camel was not indigenous to China. Refer to Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, vol. I, pl. 220, where he discusses the importation of tens of thousands of camels from the states of the Tarin Basin, eastern Turkestan and Mongolia. The Tang state even created a special office to supervise the imperial camel herds which carried out various state assignments including military courier service for the Northern Frontier. The camel was also used by the court and merchants for local transportation and, of course, were the 'ships of the desert' linking China to the oasis cities of central Asia, Samarkand, Persia, and Syria
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 366g89 is consistent with the dating of this lot