A Rare Painted Grey Pottery Figure of a Kneeling Lady

HAN DYNASTY

Details

A Rare Painted Grey Pottery Figure of a Kneeling Lady
Han dynasty
The slender figure shown kneeling gracefully with back bowed and head lowered in obeisance above her hands placed in front of her knees and hidden within the folds of her thick sleeve ends, her layered tight-fitting robes flaring out at the hem in back, the face modeled with broad nose and slit mouth and the neatly parted hair pulled back into a long knotted plait, painted in white pigment detailed in black and red
93/8in. (23.8cm.) high

Lot Essay

There does not appear to be another published example of a bowed, kneeling female figure of this type. These figures are typically modeled in graceful kneeling positions with straight backs. See, for example, two figures excavated in 1966 from a tomb at Renjiapo, Xi'an City, now in the Shaanxi Historical Museum, included in the exhibition, Treasure of Chang'an, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 15 October 1993 - 2 January 1994, no. 3. Another figure, also unearthed at Renjiapo, was included in the exhibition, The Quest for Eternity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 15 October 1987 - 3 January 1988, fig. 16, p. 107.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C200e79 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

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