TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Details

A RARE TURFAN PAINTED POTTERY FIGURE OF AN ATTENDANT
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
The male attendant shown standing with hands clasped in front of his chest, and belly protruding slightly over the black belt securing his white robes which are detailed in black, as is his mustache, eyes and brows, the face in pink pigment and the small mouth in reddish-orange, his black 'double bun' cap with long tabs hanging down his back
11 1/8 in. (28.3 cm.) high, wood stand, wood box

Provenance

Collection of Bishop Otani.
Mayuyama & Co., Tokyo, 27 October 1973, and reputed to be from the Dunhuang Caves.

Lot Essay

Compare the painted clay figure of a soldier modelled with his hands in the same position as the present figure included in the exhibition, The Glory of the Silk Road -- Art from Ancient China, Dayton Art Institute, 2003, p. 100, no. 54. The figure is reputed to have come from the tomb of Zhang Huaiji (d. 694) in the Karakhoja graveyard, Turfan. It was excavated prior to 1928 and is now in the Chinese History Museum, Beijing. The catalogue entry mentions that such figures have been found near the entrance to tombs in Astana, and suggest that they were intended as tomb guards. See, also, the two similar figures illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 351, with one of the two figures wearing a robe of the same color as the present figure, and the other a black robe.

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