A MASSIVE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN EARTH SPIRIT

Details

A MASSIVE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN EARTH SPIRIT
TANG DYNASTY

Shown seated atop a rock-work base, with a straw-glazed stripe bordered in green spanning the length of the chest and abdomen and with streaks of green and amber glaze running down the straw-glazed legs from the front haunches and splash-glazed wings, the leonine face well modeled in a ferocious roar and framed by the multi-glazed spikes of the mane, all below a pair of curved horns and a large unglazed flame rising from the splash-glazed back, some restoration--44in. (111.8cm.) high

Lot Essay

This earth spirit is similar to the figure excavated from the tomb of Crown Prince Zhong Huai and his wife, in Shaanxi province, dated to about 710 A.D., illustrated in Wenwu, 1972, no. 7, p. 20, fig. 12. Compare, also, the figures similar in modeling and glaze application in the Eumorfopoulos Collection, Catalogue, vol. I, pl. XXXVIII, no. 274; in the Tokyo National Museum: Yokogawa Collection, Catalogue no. 37 (right); and another, in the Asian Art Museum: Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, illustrated by Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, p. 205, no 228

A similar earth spirit, one of a pair, from the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences Tang Dynasty Retinue of Ten Massive Sancai-glazed Pottery Figures, was sold in these rooms, December 3, 1992, lots 233-238