Lot Essay
The result of the Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 566Q52 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
For similar braying camels with an oval fringed blanket fitted over the humps see Zhongguo taoci daxi (Chinese Ceramic Series) Han Tang taoci daquan (Han and Tang Ceramics), Taipei, 1987/89, p.272 and The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, E. Bluett, fig.39.
The Bactrian camel was not indigenous to China. See Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, 1977, vol.1, pl.220, where the author discusses the importation of many thousands of camels from the states of the Tarim Basin, eastern Turkestan and Mongolia. The Tang state even created a special office to supervise the imperial camel herds, which carried out various state assignments, including a military courier service for the Northern Frontier. The camel was also used by the court and merchants for local transportation and were the 'ships of the desert' linking China to the cities of central Asia, Samarkand, Persia and Syria.
For similar braying camels with an oval fringed blanket fitted over the humps see Zhongguo taoci daxi (Chinese Ceramic Series) Han Tang taoci daquan (Han and Tang Ceramics), Taipei, 1987/89, p.272 and The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, E. Bluett, fig.39.
The Bactrian camel was not indigenous to China. See Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, 1977, vol.1, pl.220, where the author discusses the importation of many thousands of camels from the states of the Tarim Basin, eastern Turkestan and Mongolia. The Tang state even created a special office to supervise the imperial camel herds, which carried out various state assignments, including a military courier service for the Northern Frontier. The camel was also used by the court and merchants for local transportation and were the 'ships of the desert' linking China to the cities of central Asia, Samarkand, Persia and Syria.