A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A BACTRIAN CAMEL
ANOTHER PROPERTY
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A BACTRIAN CAMEL

TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Details
A LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A BACTRIAN CAMEL
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The camel is modeled standing foursquare with the head thrown back and the mouth open in a bray. The blanket fitted over the humps has a green-glazed fringe and is splashed in green and amber glazes, while the body is covered in a rich amber glaze and the roughly textured areas of hair are glazed cream.
31 ½ in. (80 cm.) high
Provenance
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1999.

Lot Essay

The Bactrian camel was not indigenous to China, but was imported by the tens of thousands from the states of the Tarim Basin, Eastern Turkestan and Mongolia. They were used by the court and merchants for local transportation and the 'ships of the desert' linking China to the cities of central Asia, Samarkand, Persia and Syria.

A similar figure of a Bactrian camel with a fringed and splash-glazed blanket, and cream glaze on the heavy areas of hair in contrast to the amber body is illustrated by Mizuno in Toujitaikei, vol. 35, Tousansai (Tang sancai), Heibonsha series, 1977, pl. 100. See, also, the similar figure of slightly larger size (83 cm.) sold at Christie's Paris, 15 June 2005, lot 130.

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