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Lot Essay
The Yang family was celebrated in the Song Dynasty for their military prowess and their loyalty to the Emperor. But perhaps the most poignant loyalty story of the Yang family is that of the Lady Generals, wives who rode out to battle to avenge their husbands' deaths, a tragedy that had resulted from a traitorous defection. Here the Lady Generals practice for battle with bamboo rods in place of swords. Their fancy robes and sweet expressions - one even fixes her hair, her rod held in her teeth - would seem to belie the violence of their mission.