A PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A KNEELING CAMEL

Details

A PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A KNEELING CAMEL
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

The head well modeled and turned very slightly to the left, with dark red pigment highlighting the roughly textured areas of thick hair on the head, neck, haunches, humps and tail as well as areas of the packs slung over the back, with dead game hung on one side and leather and gourd-shaped flasks on the other, restoration--8in. (20.3cm.) long

Lot Essay

A gray pottery figure of a camel in a kneeling position with the same textured hair on the neck, head and legs, but with a more heavily laden saddle pack is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 8, p. 270, fig. 311; and another was excavated in Ci county, Hebei province in 1979, illustrated in A Pictorial Reference of Chinese Ancient History, Shanghai, 1990. p. 184. Compare, also, the kneeling camel illustrated by Schloss, Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, vol. II, pl. 40.

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 666j72 is consistent with the dating of this lot