TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

In figures of this type, the goose being held has been identified as both a goose being force fed and as a wine vessel. Jan Chapman in her paper, 'A New Look at 'Wine Carriers' Among Tang Dynasty Figures', T.O.C.S., vol. 52, 1987-88, pp. 11-20, illustrates two similar figures, p. 12, pls. 1 and 2, the first in the Rietberg Museum, the second in The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums and Art Gallery, and proposes for these figures as well as the others illustrated, both male and female, that they do not hold a real goose, or lion, but an earthenware vessel of goose or lion shape, in which a rhinoceros horn has been inserted as a stopper, which could also be used as a cup. The figures are usually identified as foreigners, of Central or Western Asian type. A figure, similar to the present figure, from Shanxi province, is illustrated in Wenwu, 1989:6, col. pl. and black and white pl. 4.1.
A related female figure holding a goose, but shown in a kneeling position, from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, was sold at Christie's New York, 1 December 1994, lot 151A.