A PAINTED CLAY NODDING-HEAD FIGURE OF A CHINESE OFFICIAL

19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAINTED CLAY NODDING-HEAD FIGURE OF A CHINESE OFFICIAL
19th century
Modelled standing, wearing a short yellow coat over a long blue robe, all painted with dragons amidst swirling clouds, the wide collar and head detachable, wearing a beaded necklace and long plait beneath the conical hat, some overpainting
12 in. (31.8 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Earliest examples of unfired clay figures date to the first quarter of the 18th Century, generally portraits of Western merchants. Their popularity continued throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries, when figures of Western merchants as well as Chinese genre figures became fashionable, gradually loosing their individualistic portrait qualities in favour of exotic stereotypes, such as visible in the present and following lot.

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