Lot Essay
The result of Oxford Thermoluminiscence tests, no. C97f85 and C97h29, are consistent with the dating of this Lot.
Dancing was a very important entertainment in the Han period, and is often represented by earthenware figures, such as the present lot, and on stone reliefs and wall paintings found in tombs of this period. Although it remains unclear whether the performances referred to were of religious ceremonial significance or purely for entertainment, two main dances are recorded: the 'long-sleeved dance' and the 'drum dance'. See L. Eskenazi, Early Chinese Art: 8th century BC - 9th century AD, London, 1995, Catalogue, p.60. Both seemed to make use of the strikingly long sleeves, whose 'skilful manipulation was celebrated in poems of the time', op.cit. p.60. Compare similar examples in op.cit. figs.35-38; and another illustrated in "Charlotte C. and John C. Weber - Benefactors Extraordinary", Orientations, 1988, p.70, fig.1.
Dancing was a very important entertainment in the Han period, and is often represented by earthenware figures, such as the present lot, and on stone reliefs and wall paintings found in tombs of this period. Although it remains unclear whether the performances referred to were of religious ceremonial significance or purely for entertainment, two main dances are recorded: the 'long-sleeved dance' and the 'drum dance'. See L. Eskenazi, Early Chinese Art: 8th century BC - 9th century AD, London, 1995, Catalogue, p.60. Both seemed to make use of the strikingly long sleeves, whose 'skilful manipulation was celebrated in poems of the time', op.cit. p.60. Compare similar examples in op.cit. figs.35-38; and another illustrated in "Charlotte C. and John C. Weber - Benefactors Extraordinary", Orientations, 1988, p.70, fig.1.