PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ALICE BONEY
A RARE GRAY STONE FIGURE OF A BACTRIAN CAMEL

Details
A RARE GRAY STONE FIGURE OF A BACTRIAN CAMEL
EARLY TANG DYNASTY

Shown in a recumbent position atop a recangular base, the head raised and facing forward well carved with delicate, curved mouth, muscular checks, partially lowered eyelids and laid-back ears, the top of the head and back and front of the long neck with roughly textured areas of heavy fur, and with tail flicked to the right, the gray stone with fine blackish surface mottling throughout and with earth adhering--14 1/2 in. (37cm.) long

Lot Essay

Sold in these rooms December 10, 1987, lot 313

It is rare to find Tang camels in recumbent poses, particularly in stone. Compare the recumbent pottery camel excavated from the tomb of Wu Shouzhong at Gaolou village, Xian, dated to 748 A.D., illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 9. fig. 130(2); and one with a pack and roughened fur, unearthed from an early Tang tomb in Yangchow, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1979, no. 4, pl. 2, fig. 2

See also the two camels, depicted in the process of rising from a recumbent position, and dated to the early 8th century, in the Eli Lilly Collection in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, included by Mino and Robinson in the Catalogue, nos. 59 and 60, 1983