A RARE MING DATED GLAZED AND PAINTED POTTERY HONOR GUARD PROCESSION

ANOTHER PROPERTY

Details

A RARE MING DATED GLAZED AND PAINTED POTTERY HONOR GUARD PROCESSION
INSCRIBED JIAJING, 37TH YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1558

The elaborate procession comprising two palanquins, with a painted pottery figure of an official dressed in red robes riding inside of the one inscribed under the roof with the date; forty-three male and female attendants, including eight musicians seated on horseback, and four others either mounted on or standing beside a horse; a folding chair; two basins on folding stands; two standing lanterns; two clothes racks; a trunk; and several architectural elements including a three-part gate, a sacrificial altar, and two smaller buildings; all in yellow, green, amber and dark brown glaze with facial details in black and red pigment on white slip, losses--tallest figure 10 1/4 in. (26cm.) high, altar chamber 14 1/2 in. (37cm.) high

Lot Essay

A similar procession was included in the exhibition Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 1983, Catalogue no. 115. Unlike the present example, however, it is not inscribed with a date. The procession of honor guard figurines in the Shanghai Museum are described as "burial objects symbolizing the ceremonies in which the deceased took part in their lifetimes"