A PAINTED GRAY POTTERY HERD OF SEVEN GOATS

Details

A PAINTED GRAY POTTERY HERD OF SEVEN GOATS
HAN DYNASTY

Comprising a male goat with a short beard and large curved horns set above alert ears, his short tail flicked upwards and his long, heavy coat indicated by wide, angular planes ending above each rudimentary foot; the other six goats with shorter horns but similar ears and flicked tails, each modeled as an individual and one shown grazing; all with knife-pared, slab-molded bodies and facial details painted in white, black and orangy-red pigments and the horns highlighted in lavender pigment
5 to 5¾in. (12.7 to 14.6cm.) long (7)

Lot Essay

Other figures of this type, three sheep and two cows, including a ram with curved horns and heavy coat similar to that of the male goat in the present lot, were included in the exhibition, Chine connue & inconnue, Musée Cernuschi, October 1992-February 1993, and illustrated in the Catalogue, pp. 104 and 105, no. 41B, where it is mentioned that a ewe and a lamb were unearthed at Baiquan, Huixian district, Henan province in 1951. For other, almost cartoon-like animals of this type, see the two recumbent sheep illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Daxi, Han Tang Taoci Daquan (Chinese Ceramics Series, Han and Tang Ceramics), Taipei, 1987/89, p. 124

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 866b65 is consistent with the dating of this lot