YAYOI PERIOD (200 BC-AD 300) AND FINAL JOMON TO YAYOI PERIOD (1000 BC-AD 300)

The hollow figure displays the typical decoration of a yuigami-gata dogu [woven-hair clay doll], one of the two mainstream types of clay figurine made at Kamegaoka in Aomori prefecture during the Final Jomon period. Because no Yayoi female figurine has yet been found with the head still attached to the torso, such pieces are difficult to date. During the Yayoi period, figurines seem to have been deliberately broken at the neck for ritual purposes, but during the Jomon period random breakage was the norm, so that without knowing when and how this piece was broken we cannot tell when it was made. The decorative pattern on the front and back of the figurine is typical of the northern 'Daido A' type clay figures. The roots of the woven-hair dogu lie within the final Jomon period, but an example such as this, which displays many prototypical characteristics of the yuigami dogu could be dated to the more mature era of the style, which occured during the Yayoi period.

The results of Oxford Authentication Ltd thermoluminescence tests, nos. N100f4 and N100f5 respectively, are consistent with the dating of this lot.