SUI/EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 6-7TH CENTURY

Details

A STRAW-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN EARTH SPIRIT
Sui/early Tang dynasty, 6-7th century
Modelled as a seated animal with spikes along the backbone and with the head of a human, the face well modelled with puckish features below prominent curving brows and curling hair continuing back into an arched crest, covered with a pale yellowish straw glaze, minute traces of pigment
15in. (38cm.) high, wood stand

Lot Essay

Tomb figures with pale yellowish or straw-colored glaze appeared in the Sui dynasty, and continued to be made in the early Tang dynasty until the advent of the brilliant three-color or sancai glaze. Compare the figure of this type with very similar human face in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, no. 169.

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