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Lot Essay
Under Emperor Xuanzong (r. AD 712-756), Tang court ladies aspired for ample, corpulent figures, and female fashion trended towards lengthy, shapeless robes and elaborately coiffed hairdos. These developments are often attributed to the ascendancy of the emperor’s favorite consort, Yang Guifei (AD 719-756), who embodied these attributes. This rosy-cheeked court lady tenderly holding a dog not only demonstrates the popularity of this style but also speaks to a new culture of leisure and the increased status of urban women in the high Tang.
Ceramic court ladies holding dogs are relatively uncommon; a comparable in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum was published in M. Medley, T’ang Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1981, p. 50, pl. 40. A similar figure featuring a congji hairstyle is included in a set of three ladies in R. Jacobsen, Celestial Horses and Long Sleeve Dancers, Minneapolis, 2013, pp. 180-81. Also compare the figure sold at Sotheby’s New York, 11 September 2019, lot 523.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C200f48 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Ceramic court ladies holding dogs are relatively uncommon; a comparable in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum was published in M. Medley, T’ang Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1981, p. 50, pl. 40. A similar figure featuring a congji hairstyle is included in a set of three ladies in R. Jacobsen, Celestial Horses and Long Sleeve Dancers, Minneapolis, 2013, pp. 180-81. Also compare the figure sold at Sotheby’s New York, 11 September 2019, lot 523.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C200f48 is consistent with the dating of this lot.