A PAIR OF LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED BUFF POTTERY FIGURES OF COURT ATTENDANTS

TANG DYNASTY

Details

A PAIR OF LARGE SANCAI-GLAZED BUFF POTTERY FIGURES OF COURT ATTENDANTS
Tang Dynasty
Each modeled standing in a formal attitude atop a pierced rockwork base, with hands concealed within a muff in front of the chest, wearing high-collared, belted tunics with long sleeves over a long under-robe falling to the tops of the green-glazed shoes with unusual crenellated tips, each figure with an unglazed head, one modeled with narrow eyes and a serene expression below a plain official's cap, the other with pronounced, rounded eyes and a smiling expression, his hat with an upcurved, domed outline applied in front with a decorative medallion
30¼in. (102cm.) high (2)

Exhibited

New York, J J Lally & Co, Inaugural Exhibition, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, December 3 - 17, 1986, no.31

Singapore, The Empress Place Museum, Gems of Chinese Art, Selections of Ceramics and Bronzes from the Tsui Art Foundation, 1992 - 1995, no. 27

Aarhus, Denmark, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Empire of the Dragons, Chinese Art Treasures Through 4000 Years from Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark, September - November 1995, nos. 21 a and b

Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong Art Gallery, Art Treasures from Shanghai and Hong Kong, November 1996 - January 1997, p. 91,
nos. 24 and 25

Lot Essay

Compare the sancai figure closely related to the dignitary with the official's cap, but without the crenellated shoe tips, illustrated by Li Zhiyan, The Art of Glazed Pottery of China, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 34, no. 137; and another illustrated by John Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tokyo, 1978, no. 44

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C97c85 is consistent with the dating of this lot