TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

This charming figure belongs to the category of Tang female figures made during the 8th century when the fashion at court was for women of a fuller figure, and therefore robes of a style looser than those seen during the 7th century, when the fashion was for a more slender figure and tight-fitting costume. A group of four painted red pottery figures of court ladies illustrated by J. Baker in Seeking Immortality: Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 1996, p. 34, fig. 17, are representative of this 8th century aesthetic. All of these figures have a similar full face with small features and an elaborate hair-do, and three wear loose robes with full sleeves in which their hands are hidden. One of the figures, however, has the robe belted low on the hips with a sash in a manner similar to that seen on the present figure. Also, unlike the other three figures, her hands are exposed and held in front in a manner similar to the present figure, and on one hand a bird is perched. This figure also has a similar, upswept double topknot coiffure, so named and illustrated in a line drawing by E. Schloss in Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture: From Han Through T'ang, Stamford, 1977, p. 153, fig. 65. Another line drawing on p. 145, fig. 24, shows a figure similar to the present figure. See, also, the similar figure illustrated by J.-P. Desroches, Compagnons d'éternité, Musée Guimet, 1996, p. 251, no. MA 4677.