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Lot Essay
A pottery figure of a seated foreigner, which appears to be of similar ethnic type as the present figure, with full, textured beard, pronounced hooked nose and brows, and wearing a similar cloth cap tied in the same fashion, is illustrated by M. Medley in T'ang Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1979, p. 56, pl. 47. The author notes, p. 54, that it was fashionable in the seventh and eighth centuries to employ foreign grooms, and that they included "Central Asians such as Khorezmians, Sogdians, Uighurs and Turks", as well as Iranians, and others with Caucasian features.
A related green and amber-glazed figure of a standing groom, described as Caucaso-Iranian, in the Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Schloss Collection, illustrated by E. Schloss in the exhibition catalogue, Foreigners in Ancient Chinese Art, China Institute, New York, 1969, pl. 6, exhibits similar facial features, including the full beard and mustache with upturned ends of the present figure.
A related green and amber-glazed figure of a standing groom, described as Caucaso-Iranian, in the Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Schloss Collection, illustrated by E. Schloss in the exhibition catalogue, Foreigners in Ancient Chinese Art, China Institute, New York, 1969, pl. 6, exhibits similar facial features, including the full beard and mustache with upturned ends of the present figure.