TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Music and dance were highly popular at the Tang court, and the costumes and coiffures of these musicians and dancers reflect the fashion for women during the Tang dynasty. The present group features beautiful features like the finely rendered faces and the elegant garments and sleeves of the dancers. The musicians, each kneeling on a flat, square base, with the hair pulled up in a top knot, include: two playing the xiao (flute), two with the pipa (lute), two with the pai xiao (panpipe), and two more with a smaller type of panpipe. One plays a percussion instrument, probably a linggu (tambourine) and another plays the sheng (harmonica). They are accompanied by two kneeling dancers on similar bases, both with hair set in a double knot secured by a tiara. Each figure wears layered tunics featuring long, flared sleeves, and wide, voluminous trousers, with some details on the tiaras, necklaces and shoes accented in gold. The arms are raised and stretched in elegant, mirrored poses.

A painted pottery group of ten seated female musicians and a pair of standing figures shown in the midst of sleeve-tossing dance gestures, is illustrated by R. Hayashi in The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, New York/Tokyo, 1975, p. 96, no. 103. See, also, another group of ten female musicians and two dancers of slightly larger size (8 ¼ in. high), each with double top knot and finely molded robes, illustrated by R. Jacobsen in Celestial Horses and Long Sleeve Dancers, The David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Minneapolis, 2013, pp. 190-91.

The results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test nos. C101e16 and C101e17 are consistent with the dating of this lot (one musician and one dancer).